4.6.07

GOOD PRACTICE GUIDETO MITIGATE THE EFFECTS OF AND ERADICATEVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMENThis paper has been prepared by the Institute of Women, AutonomousOrganism assigned to the Spanish Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and bythe Professors of Psychology of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, MaríaJosé Díaz Aguado (General Director) and Rosario Martínez Arias (Director ofthe Methodology), with the indispensable collaboration of the persons from thefifteen Member States of the European Union who filled the base Questionnaire,and who we would like to thank for their important contribution.

INDEXPageINTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………… 1Precedents and background ................................................................. 4Conceptual interpretation of the three types of violence considered 10Domestic violence ................................................................................... 11Sexual violence ....................................................................................... 11Workplace violence ................................................................................. 12Objectives ............................................................................................... 12Methodology ........................................................................................... 13Contents of the Guide ............................................................................ 151. AWARENESS RAISING ............................................................. 171.1. Awareness-raising measures to combat violence againstwomen proposed at the Fourth World Conference on Women ..171.2. Awareness of violence against women in the EuropeanUnion............................................................................................181.3. Good practice in awareness heightening about violenceagainst women in general and in the domestic environment inparticular, in European Member States .......................................191.4. Good practice in terms of awareness about sexual violenceagainst women in European Union Member States ....................361.5. Good practice in awareness to the problem of workplaceviolence against women ..............................................................392. EDUCATION AND SPECIALISED TRAINING ........................... 442.1. Education.............................................................................. 442.1.1. Measures to combat violence against women througheducation proposed in the Fourth World Conference onWomen..................................................................................................442.1.2. Measures proposed in the area of education to combatviolence against women in the European Union .............................442.1.3. Characteristics of good educational practices to combatgeneral violence against women in general ..................................462.1.4. Difficulties encountered in educational institutions toimplement the measures proposed in the Fourth WorldConference to combat violence against women ...........................502.1.5. Good practice to prevent or detect domestic violencethrough education in European Union Member States .................522.1.6. Good practice in prevention of sexual violence througheducation in the European Union Member States ........................562.1.7. Good practice in the prevention of violence in theworkplace through education in the European Union MemberStates............................................................................................582.2. Specialised training .................................................................... 602.2.1. Measures on specialised training proposed in the FourthWorld Conference on Women.......................................................602.2.2. Specialised training in violence against women forprofessionals catering for victims in the European Union .............602.2.3. Characteristics of good practice in specialised training forprofessionals catering for victims..................................................622.2.4. Good practice in specialised training on violence againstwomen in the European Union Member States ............................643. RESOURCES AND SOCIAL SERVICES FOR VICTIMS.............. 723.1. Measures on resources and social services for victimsproposed in the Fourth World Conference on Women .................723.2. Characteristics of good practice in resources and socialservices to help victims of violence against women .....................723.3. Good practice in resource and social services to helpvictims of violence against women in European Union MemberStates............................................................................................754. SPECIFIC MEASURES GEARED TO REHABILITATINGPERPETRATORS ...........................................................................864.1. Measures for rehabilitating perpetrators proposed at theFourth World Conference on Women...........................................864.2. Rehabilitation of perpetrators in the European Union ............... 864.3. Keys to good practice in the rehabilitation of perpetrators........ 874.4. Good practice in perpetrator rehabilitation in EuropeanUnion Member States ...................................................................905. LEGAL, JUDICIAL AND LAW-ENFORCEMENT MEASURES.. 1005.1. Legal, judicial and law-enforcement measures proposed bythe Fourth World Conference on Women.....................................1005.2. The situation of legal, judicial and lawenforcementmeasures to prevent violence in general against women in theEuropean Union............................................................................1015.3. Good legal practices for preventing violence against womenin general in the European Union Member States........................1045.4. Good legal, judicial and law enforcement practices forpreventing domestic violence against women in the MemberStates............................................................................................1065.5. Good legal, judicial and law enforcement practices toprevent sexual violence against women in the European UnionMember States .............................................................................1145.6. Good legal, judicial and law enforcement practices toprevent violence against women in the workplace in the MemberStates............................................................................................1185.7. Evaluation of the legal, judicial and law enforcementmeasures for preventing violence against women in theEuropean Union Member States ..................................................1216. SURVEYS AND RESEARCH...................................................... 1286.1. Measures relating to surveys and research proposed at theFourth World Conference on Women...........................................1286.2. Surveys and research into violence against women inEurope ..........................................................................................1296.3. Good practice in the conduct of surveys and research intoviolence against women in general and domestic violence inparticular in Member States of the European Union.....................1316.4. Good practice in surveys and research into sexual violencein European Union Member States...............................................1416.5. Good practice in surveys and research into violence againstwomen in the workplace in European Union Member States.......1427. RECORDS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN.................. 1457.1. Measures relating to records on violence against womenproposed at the Fourth World Conference on Women.................1457.2. Keys to good practice in records and statistics on violenceagainst women..............................................................................1457.3. Good practice in recording violence against women inEuropean Union Member States ..................................................147

1INTRODUCTIONViolence against women is a universal problem that affects all countries,regardless of their degree of development, and occurs across all segments ofsociety. Not even the most advanced European countries, where thefundamental principles of freedom, justice, equality and protection of personaldignity and privacy are held to be values of a higher order than their respectivebodies of law, are immune to this problem.Violence against women is not an isolated or contingent problem, but one withdeep structural roots whose definitive solution will call for an ongoing effort fromsociety as a whole. Violence against women is a social phenomenon of manyand varied dimensions. It is the expression of a social order based oninequality, a result of the assignment of different roles to women and men onthe grounds of their sex and differential recognition of the male role as superior.Violence, an expression of gender inequality, is therefore a formula to whichmany men recur to maintain their privileges by subjugating women, withdevastating effects for the victims.The international community, and in particular the European Union, hasrecognised that the problem of violence against women is a violation offundamental human rights and, therefore, an assault on the victim’s right to life,safety, freedom, dignity and physical and psychological integrity that constitutesan obstacle to the development of any democratic society.Women’s organisations have played a very important role in exposing the truedimensions of the problem of violence against women. Their action has been ofcrucial importance in placing what was traditionally regarded to be a familyissue and, therefore, a private concern, on the national and internationalpolitical agenda.2The struggle against violence must become a basic pillar of social interventionpolicy. The measures implemented in this area must be essentially geared toeradicating violence through the prevention of violent actions by sensitisingpublic opinion about the severity of the problem, ensuring that education isbased on equality and non-discrimination on the grounds of sex, punishingviolent behaviours to deter and therefore contribute to prevent violence andmitigate the effects of violent acts on victims. In any case, it must be notedthat both the preventive and the remedial measures that can be taken in thisfield often meet with privacy- and private relationship-related problems,particularly in the case of domestic violence, where intervention is much morecomplex than in the public domain.Violence against women can only be eradicated by prevention, which calls foractive repudiation by the entire community. Sensitisation or awarenesscampaigns must continue to be conducted so that no member of societyremains insensitive to violence against women, a problem that affects thecommunity as a whole. It may on occasion be necessary to target specificcommunities of people in such campaigns, such as judges or prosecutors, whoare often reputed to be notoriously unaware of the seriousness of the problem.Education is a basic tool to generate behaviour based on dialogue, respect,tolerance and equality. Attacking the problem at the root means planting theseed in the earliest stages of life – childhood and adolescence – when theattitudes and values that will largely define adult conduct germinate. Sinceeducation professionals also need to be imbued with the knowledge, attitudesand values referred above, the fight against violence towards women wouldappear to need to concentrate its efforts on education and training.Violence victims are often defenceless because they remain dependent – evenfinancially – after being battered. They feel unprotected, baffled and unable tosolve their problem. Individuals in such a defenceless and particularlyvulnerable situation should receive support from the authorities to protect anddefend themselves, in the form of the provision of social resources of differentkinds to help mitigate the effects of the violence inflicted on them. Under such3circumstances, victims must obviously be afforded suitable assistance,including both physical and psychological therapy, admission to shelters orrecovery centres and access to follow-up services to monitor their progress untilthey are able to solve their problem, with the help of specialists. In short, theyshould be provided adequate support, therapy and psychological, financial,occupational, social and legal counsel.To effectively combat violence against women, society must have the properlegal, judicial and law enforcement measures in place. In many cases, toimprove the protection afforded to victims, legislative changes need to beintroduced to more clearly define aggression as criminal behaviour; in others,judicial and enforcement procedures need to be simplified etc.An in-depth understanding of the factors and variables that breed the violenceto which some individuals recur on a more or less regular basis, and of thedevastating effects caused by such conduct, helps to focus more sharply on themeasures implemented to mitigate such effects. That kind of understandingcalls for keeping records as complete as possible on violence reported and thesentences delivered, as well as for conducting surveys and research on thesubject.The general concern about this problem in the framework of the EuropeanUnion, and the fact that we belong to a common space where every day, thereis more to unite than to divide, provide sufficient reasons to pool our efforts andtake joint measures, agreed by consensus, to combat this blight which is such acause for concern within the international community. And as a result, the effortmade by each Member State will be at once less costly and more effective.4Precedents and backgroundThe United Nations Charter, which came into effect on 24 October 1945, is acall for reaffirmation of faith in fundamental human being rights, in the dignityand worth of the person and in the equal rights of women and men. Since then,a lot of documents and legal instruments have been approved by the UnitedNations, reflecting the international community’s sensitivity to the need toeliminate sex-based discrimination and promoting the implementation ofprogrammes of action in defence of women’s rights. However, progress towardsrecognition and the fight to combat violence against women has been very slow.One of the most important legal instruments for promoting women’sfundamental rights and freedoms is the Convention on the Elimination of allForms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) of 18 December 1979 andits Optional Protocol of 6 October 1999. The Committee on the Elimination ofDiscrimination against Women, in its General Recommendation No. 19 of 1992,applied the CEDAW provisions to the subject of violence against women.The earliest reflection on this subject arose on the occasion of the First WorldConference on Women held in Mexico City, but it was not until five years later,at the Second World Conference on Women held in Copenhagen, that aresolution was first adopted on violence. This resolution, limited to mistreatedwomen and family violence, sustained that violence occurring within the familyenvironment is the most common covert crime in the world.At the Third World Conference on Women, organised in Nairobi in 1985,violence emerged as a genuine problem affecting the international communityand a growing problem, which must be addressed by governments and societyin general. At this conference, a connection was drawn between the promotionand maintenance of peace and the eradication of violence against women inboth the public and private spheres. And violence was cited as the majorobstacle to development, equality and peace.5In the same year, the General Assembly approved the first Resolution ondomestic violence and in 1986 a group of experts on family violence met toreflect on its implementation.The World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in 1993 proved to be alandmark in international recognition of the severity of the problem of violenceagainst women. The conference affirmed that all human rights derive from thedignity and worth inherent in the person, and that the human person is thecentral subject of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It also sustainedthat the human rights of women and of the girl-child are an inalienable, integraland indivisible part of universal human rights, with which violence and all formsof sexual harassment and exploitation are incompatible, in particular thosederiving from cultural prejudice. Governments, intergovernmental institutionsand NGOs were urged to intensify their efforts to protect and foster women’sand girls’ human rights.The Fourth and to date last World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in1995, approved two documents, the Declaration and the Platform for Action, inwhich women’s rights were proclaimed to be human rights.The Declaration called for the adoption of the necessary measures to eliminateall forms of discrimination against women and girls and remove all the obstaclesto gender equality, as well as to prevent and eliminate all forms of violenceagainst women and girls.The Platform enumerated twelve obstacles to women’s advancement in theworld, proposing objectives and strategies to be adopted by the internationalcommunity, governments, NGOs and the private sector to eliminate suchdifficulties in the following five years. One of the obstacles enunciated wasviolence against women and the adoption of integrated measures was urged toprevent and eliminate this type of violence as well as to study its causes,consequences and the effectiveness of preventive measures.6In June 2000 the Special Session of the General Assembly reviewed theprogress made in the years following the approval of the Beijing Platform forAction, and examined the obstacles hindering full implementation of theplatform and agreed to new measures and initiatives designed to achievecomplete and speedy application.One of the areas where progress was identified was in the attention given tomany forms of violence against women and girls, in both the public and privatedomains, by national legislation, policies and programmes. Moreover, issuesthat have risen or become more visible after Beijing, such as spousal rape orthe need to support public sensitisation campaigns, have also been addressed.The Council of Europe has been studying the problem of violence againstwomen since 1985, and different regulatory provisions on the subject havesince been approved. The major effort in connection with this problem wasdeployed on the occasion of the Third European Ministerial Conference onEquality between Women and Men held in Rome in October 1993, where theissue of the elimination of violence against women was expressly tackled. Aseries of important Declarations and Resolutions were approved in the contextof this conference.The most prominent of these include the Declaration on Policies for CombatingViolence against Women in a Democratic Europe, which proposed theformulation of a Plan of Action, along with suitable legal instruments to fightagainst violence towards women. One of the priority themes discussed wasElements for intervention strategies to be included in a Plan of Action to combatviolence against women.The Council likewise approved the Declaration of the Fourth World Conferenceon Women (Beijing 1995), the Declaration on the Violation of Women’s HumanRights in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia and a Resolution on the Rapeand Abuse of Women.7The issue of violence inflicted on women reappeared at the Fourth EuropeanMinisterial Conference on Equality between Women and Men held in Istanbul in1997, whose general theme was Democracy and equality between women andmen. There, the Council of Europe urged Member States to prepare aEuropean legal instrument on this issue.The Plan of Action to combat violence against women envisaged in the ThirdMinisterial Conference was formulated in 1997 by a group of specialists on thesubject (EG-S-VL). The main objective was to identify the measures that shouldbe adopted and the national, international, governmental and non-governmentalinstitutions that would be entrusted with implementing the Plan.In the Declaration of the Second Summit of the Council of Europe in 1997, theHeads of State and Government asserted their determination to combatviolence against women and all forms of sexual exploitation of women. In thefollow-up of this declaration, the Steering Committee for Equality betweenWomen and Men organised an Information Forum in 1998, devoted specificallyto the elimination of violence within families.Subsequently, the Council of Europe approved Recommendation (1997) 1325on traffic in women and forced prostitution in the Council of Europe MemberStates, Recommendation (2000) 11 against trafficking in human beings for thepurposes of sexual exploitation, Recommendation (2000) 1450 on violenceagainst women in Europe, inviting the Committee of Ministers to design aEuropean programme to combat violence against women, harmonisinglegislations and procedures in order to create authentically European legaldoctrine, and Recommendation (2002) 5 on the protection of women againstviolence.Based on the Recommendations, Declarations and Conferences of otherinternational bodies, primarily the United Nations and the Council of Europe, theEuropean Union has been granting the subject of violence against women amore prominent role, formulating a number of Resolutions, Recommendations,Declarations and Actions that have led to greater sensitivity and awareness8within the European Union and given rise to different actions, especially in thenineties.Presently, the European Commission has positioned the problem of violenceagainst women in a prominent place in the Union’s political programme. Theobjective is to promote co-operation and co-ordination among Member States,support NGOs working in this domain, improving statistics and information onviolence, fostering preventive measures and enhancing the protection providedto victims.Despite the work under way to make the criteria prevailing in the variousMember States more consistent and establish co-ordinated action to combatthis kind of violence, the penal aspects continue to fall within the jurisdiction ofthe Member States. Nonetheless, the tendency is to unify action, such as in thecase of the Zero Tolerance Campaign, the DAPHNE Programme and the studyof Europeans’ attitudes towards violence against women and children. This issupplemented by a series of European Parliament Recommendations andResolutions, among them, the Resolution of 16 September 1997, in which theEuropean Commission and the Member States were asked to consider all formsof sex-based violence as a crime.The Third medium-term Community Action Programme on Equal Opportunitiesfor Women and Men (1991-1995) included among its aims the attainment ofgreater equality of opportunities for women on the labour market, urging theMember States to adopt measures to stem sexual harassment in the workplace.Community concern about sexual harassment, along with express recognitionof such harassment as a form of gender violence, first came with the EuropeanParliament Resolution of 11 June 1986 on violence against women, whichurged Member States to establish measures to prevent and punish sexualharassment. This appeal materialised in the Commission of the EuropeanCommunities Recommendation of 27 November 1991 on the protection of thedignity of women and men at workplace, including a code of practice to combatsexual harassment.9The Fourth Community Programme of Action on Equal Opportunities for Menand Women (1996-2000) attempted to extend the scope of the fight againstviolence, particularly to the defence of women’s dignity in society in general andon the labour market in particular.Nowadays, the Community Framework Strategy on Gender Equality (2001-2005) is continuing along the lines discussed above.In a more general approach to violence against women, in 1997 EuropeanParliament urged the Commission to initiate a campaign to promote nontolerance(Zero Tolerance Campaign) of violence, and especially on domesticviolence against women, which began in March 1999. The Zero ToleranceCampaign, which pursued the mobilisation of public opinion in favour of anattitude of not allowing violence, targeted men, in the conviction that their activeparticipation is essential for greater effectiveness.This campaign against violence belonged to the actions implemented to meetthe commitments assumed at the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Womenand was associated with the designation of 1999 as the European Year againstViolence towards Women.In 1997 on the initiative of European Parliament, further action wasimplemented to contribute to the eradication of violence against women, namelythe DAPHNE Initiative, whose purpose is to foster preventive measuresdesigned to combat violence against girls, young persons and women.In 2000, the DAPHNE Initiative became a full-fledged Programme to combatviolence against children, young Person and Women (2000-2003). Its purposeis to guarantee protection in terms of physical and psychological health,preventing violence and providing support to victims as well as to NGOs andother organisations engaged in this area.Attention should also be drawn to other types of action undertaken in theEuropean Union, besides the DAPHNE Programme and the Zero Tolerance10Campaign, such as the survey (Eurobarometer) on violence against womenconducted on 14 July 1999 in the fifteen Member States, which polled 16,000people over the age of 15.The results of the Eurobarometer survey were taken into account in theEuropean Social Agenda of 7 December 2000, where the problem of violenceagainst women was considered as one of the fundamental issues to beaddressed.Conceptual interpretation of the three types of violence consideredIn 1995, in the framework of the Beijing Platform for Action and in addition toestablishing the eradication of violence against women as one of its strategicobjectives, the United Nations formulated a definition of such violence in thefollowing terms: any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely toresult in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women,including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty,whether occurring in public or private life. Accordingly, violence against womenencompasses but is not limited to the following:a) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family,b) Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring within thegeneral community,c) Physical, sexual and psychological violence perpetrated or condonedby the State, wherever it occurs.Despite the amplitude of the above definition, this Good Practice Guide dealswith domestic, sexual and workplace violence and expressly excludes otherforms of violence as trafficking in women and prostitution from its discussion ofsexual violence. Particular attention is lent to domestic violence, due to theenormous dimension of the problem in our society, as well as the inherentdifficulties in detecting and eradicating it.11Many definitions have been put forward in recent years for the types of violenceconsidered in this Guide. Referencing them all here would appear to be anarduous, complex and possibly unnecessary task, in view of the contextuallimitations of the work undertaken. Therefore, an attempt will be made toprovide definitions that synthesise many of them, specifying the commoncharacteristics that distinguish each of the various types of violence studied:domestic, sexual and workplace.Domestic violenceDomestic violence will be understood to be any violence, physical, sexualand/or psychological – in the last case, if reiterated – inflicted on theperpetrator’s spouse or intimate partner or on people comprising the corefamily. In many cases, in particular in the case of domestic violence inflicted onwomen, it occurs because the perpetrator is in a position to wield permanentpower over the woman in question.Any definition of domestic violence must cover the following:• Infliction of physical, sexual and/or psychological violence.• Perpetration by the spouse or former spouse, partner, expartner or any otherperson with whom the victim forms or had formed a similar relationship(boyfriend/girlfriend) or by any other member of the family.• In the case of domestic violence inflicted on women, command of a situationof permanent power by the perpetrator.• Regularity, i.e., reiteration of violent acts, in the event of psychologicalviolence.Sexual violenceAny act in which a person is obligated, under coercion by one or several others,to bear or perform actions of a sexual nature may be termed sexual violence.Any definition of sexual violence must cover the following:12• Reference to any abusive act of sexual nature.• Violation of the person’s sexual freedom, infringing on his/her human dignity.Workplace violenceThis type of violence refers to abusive behaviour engaged in by superiors inrank or peers in the workplace, without the consent of the person on whom it isinflicted, creating an intimidating, hostile or humiliating work environment for thevictim and jeopardising her/his job or interfering with her/his career.Therefore, the elements that characterise workplace violence are:• Abusive behaviour.• Perpetration at workplace.• Infliction on a person without her/his consent.• Creation of an intimidating, hostile or humiliating work environment forthe victim.• Placement of her/his job in jeopardy and limitation of her/his possibilitiesof promotion.Two different forms of workplace violence are considered: sexual harassmentand bullying. The only characteristic differentiating the two is the sexualconnotation inherent in the former.ObjectivesThe ultimate objective of drawing up a Good Practice Guide such as this is tofurnish a working tool that can contribute to mitigating the effects of domestic,sexual and workplace violence and eradicating this type of behaviour.The formulation of this draft Guide has also afforded the opportunity to achieveinstrumental objectives such as the compilation of systematic information onviolence, thereby contributing to:13• Ascertainment of the progress made in the European Union with respect tothe measures proposed in the Fourth World Conference on Women’sPlatform for Action.• Readier formulation of programmes and preparation of specific interventionstrategies in the context of the struggle against violence towards women.MethodologyA Questionnaire was formulated to gather information on the good practicesin place in European Union Member States, which grouped a series ofquestions under eight subject headings: Sensitisation, Training andeducation, Resources and social services for victims, Specific measuresgeared to rehabilitating perpetrators, Legal, judicial and law enforcementmeasures, Surveys and research, Records on violence against women andDescription of the most important measures adopted in each country withrespect to the foregoing.The Questionnaire was drawn up taking into account the recommendations andanalyses on violence against women contained in the following documents:1) The Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference onWomen held in Beijing in 1995. This Guide contains detailed referencesto the proposals included in the Platform regarding the proposals aroundwhich it is structured.2) The papers drafted in meetings organised by the European Union after1995 on measures to combat violence against women, in particular thoseensuing from: the International Expert Conference held in Vienna in1998; the Interministerial Conference held in Cologne in 1999; the ExpertConference held in Jyväskylä in 1999 and the Closing Conference of theEuropean Campaign to Raise Awareness of Violence against Womenheld in Lisbon in 2000. Specific recommendations were made in all these14meetings with respect to the subjects included in this Guide: specialisedtraining; social resources and services for victims; rehabilitation ofperpetrators; legal, judicial and law enforcement measures; surveys andresearch and data recording systems. Detailed reference to therecommendations proposed in the above meetings is given in the variouschapters of this Guide that deal with these issues.3) Papers drafted after 1995 by the Council of Europe on good practice tocombat violence against women, in particular the report titled Legislationin the Member States of the Council of Europe in the field of violenceagainst women, 2001. The Good Practice Guide contains references toCouncil of Europe recommendations on the same subjects as listed inthe preceding paragraph.4) The papers produced by NGOs under the European Union’s DAPHNEInitiative and Programme, most prominently those referred in the GeneralEvaluation Report of 1998 and the survey conducted in a number ofEuropean countries by the European Women’s Lobby (Dévoiler lesdonnées cachées de la violence domestique dans l’UE, 1999) (Disclosethe hidden data on domestic violence in the European Union, 1999) andTHEMIS, the European Woman Lawyers Association (Guía de buenasprácticas y usos forenses para combatir la violencia de género, 2001) (aguide on good practice and coroner procedures to combat genderviolence, 2001).On the grounds of the above mentioned information, the Women’s Institute,together with a research team at the Complutense University of Madrid, drew upthe Questionnaire that has been used as background for this Guide; it was sentto the European Commission, as well as to Belgium and Denmark, countriespreceding and succeeding Spain in the EU Presidency, to ensure continuity inthe work undertaken during the three presidencies.Since the subject of salary discrimination was addressed during the six monthsthat the Presidency was in Belgium, the Questionnaire has contained workplace15violence as a continuation of the analysis of discrimination against women inthis context.Denmark, in turn, intends to formulate a series of indicators to measure andappraise the effectiveness of good practices that may be implemented tocombat violence against women, analysing the changes, if any, coming aboutover time.The contents of this Guide are based, mainly, in the replies of the fifteenMember States of the European Union to the Questionnaire, and in theircomments to the first drafts of the Guide.Exceptionally, information on certain specific countries has been taken fromexisting documents to illustrate good practices in the struggle against violencetowards women.Contents of the GuideThe Guide presented hereunder is organised into seven chapters, which concurwith the first seven chapters of the Questionnaire used to gather theinformation, namely:1. Sensitisation2. Training and education3. Resources and social services for victims4. Specific measures geared to rehabilitating perpetrators5. Legal, judicial and law enforcement measures6. Surveys and research7. Records on violence against womenEach chapter begins with the recommendations set out in the Platform forAction adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women on the subject inquestion.16This is followed by a brief overview of the reflections, considerations and resultsof studies conducted in the framework of the European Union and the Councilof Europe, in some cases, and in others of the conclusions drawn from thecountries’ responses to the Questionnaire.The essence of this Guide is to be found, in all chapters, under the headingreferring to good practice. Wherever possible, practices referring to domestic,sexual or workplace violence are discussed separately (sensitisation; education;legal, judicial and law enforcement measures; surveys and research).In all chapters, the measures being implemented in the various Member Statesare briefly discussed and the ones that appear to be examples of good practiceare highlighted.In some of these chapters, in addition to the foregoing items on the BeijingConference, the European Union as a whole and each of the Member Statesindividually, other sections have been also included, namely: keys to goodpractice (Specialised education and training; Resources and social services forvictims; Specific measures geared to rehabilitating perpetrators; Records onviolence against women); difficulties encountered in implementing suchpractices (Education) and the evaluation of the measures implemented (Legal,judicial and law enforcement measures).171. AWARENESS RAISING1.1. Awareness-raising measures to combat violence against womenproposed at the Fourth World Conference on WomenAs the Fourth World Conference acknowledged in its Platform for Action, violenceagainst women is a manifestation of the historically unequal power relations betweenwomen and men, which have led to domination over and discrimination againstwomen by men and to the prevention of women's full advancement. Experience in anumber of countries shows that women and men can be mobilised to overcomeviolence in all its forms.The measures to be adopted in the context of awareness-raising campaigns include:changing sexist models and prejudice; sensitising the public at large about theadverse effects of violence against women on everyone; enhancing the awarenessof present or potential victims of violence so they can protect themselves againstaggression and break away from violent situations and disseminating information onthe resources available in this regard.The Conference highlighted the role of women’s organisations and the media inraising awareness in particular, recommending: Support initiatives of women'sorganisations and non-governmental organisations all over the world to raiseawareness on the issue of violence against women; and raise awareness of theresponsibility of the media in promoting non-stereotyped images of women and men,as well as in eliminating patterns of media presentation that generate violence, andencourage those responsible for media content to establish professional guidelinesand codes of conduct; also raise awareness of the important role of the media ininforming and educating people about the causes and effects of violence againstwomen and in stimulating public debate on the topic.181.2. Awareness of violence against women in the European UnionIn 1997, the European Parliament adopted a report in which it asked the EuropeanCommission and the Member States to consider all forms of gender-based violenceto be a crime. It also urged the Commission to initiate a campaign to promote nontolerance(Zero Tolerance Campaign) for violence against women, which was begunin March 1999. The campaign was conducted in conjunction with the designation of1999 as the European Year against Violence against Women. These two proposalsand corresponding actions proved to be highly effective in raising awareness andsensitivity to the problem all across Europe with respect to zero tolerance forviolence against women.The results obtained in the 1999 Eurobarometer survey, which indicate thatEuropeans condemn domestic violence against women en masse and acknowledgethat it is a relatively common problem, serve as an illustration of the advances andlimitations of awareness-raising campaigns in the European Union. Only 4% of therespondents claimed never to have heard about this social problem.The main source of their information on the subject is the media (television in 89% ofthe cases; press in 65% and radio in 44%). The percentage of people who talk aboutthe problem in their personal circles is very low (with friends, 31%; with family, 19%),indicating that to some extent the subject of violence against women continues to bea taboo.With respect to how to combat the phenomenon, 95% feel that punishing theperpetrator is useful and 91% believe that stricter enforcement of existing legislationis needed and that young men and women should be taught mutual respect. Themain causes of such violence cited are: alcohol (96%), drug addiction (94%),unemployment (79%), poverty and social marginalisation (73%) and the fact that theperpetrator was in turn a victim of violence (73%).19Moreover, there is general acknowledgement of the need for awareness-raisingmeasures, since 86% believe that more brochures should be circulated and 84% thatpublic information campaigns should be conducted.Finally, a rather telling result of the survey is that whilst 67% believe that theEuropean Union should become involved in the endeavour to curb domestic violenceagainst women, 79% are unaware of the fact that the European Union has in factproposed policies in this area.As the above results show, substantial progress has been made in the Europeancommunity with regard to raising awareness of and condemning violence againstwomen, in which the media and awareness-raising campaigns conducted throughthe media have played an instrumental role. The change is particularly significant inconnection with condemning the behaviour of perpetrators and recognising the needto punish such behaviour.One of the most important causes of the problem, namely the inequitable distributionof power between women and men in society, is not among those most frequentlymentioned, due very likely to the scant attention given this premise in the media.This limitation may detract from the success of awareness-raising campaigns, sincetarget audiences may tend to feel detached from what they regard to be a marginalproblem, in which only men with special problems are involved.European Union policies, which most of the population regard as advisable, alsoseem to be wanting in visibility.1.3. Good practice in awareness heightening about violence againstwomen in general and in the domestic environment in particular, inEuropean Member StatesThe replies to the Questionnaire on Good Practice to combat violence againstwomen relating to the three major campaigns conducted in each country since 1995,20show that: all countries have taken measures of this type, most of which target eitherthe population at large or victims of violence; the evaluation of results is very high inall cases and, while systematic evaluation of the impact is not general practice,where such evaluations were conducted (almost always limited to nation-widecampaigns, including television spots), the results proved to be even better thanexpected. Most of the campaigns run refer to domestic violence or violence againstwomen in general.In Germany, several campaigns to combat violence against women have beenconducted since 1995 on both the regional and the local level, designed andimplemented by different entities and with the participation of both public bodies andNGOs. The first of such campaigns (1993-1996), singled out as being particularlyeffective, was run by the Federal Government but involved regional initiatives.Support was given to fifty cities and districts to design and implement actions at thelocal level. The process gave rise to over three hundred actions, geared to a widerange of targets (population at large, victims, minors, perpetrators, witnesses, police,domestic workers, and schools). Such activities were described in a campaignmanual, which also included general notes and working documents on public opinionand fund raising. The materials edited and measures adopted during this campaignare still in circulation and will continue to be circulated in the future. They includebrochures, posters, poster-size photographs, a course for the police force and amulti-media package to address the problem in schools. The second most prominentpublic awareness effort listed in the German reply to the questionnaire was thecampaign conducted around the recently enacted Protection against Violence Act.The awareness exercise conducted in Germany constitutes good practice in termsof co-ordination among public bodies and NGOs at various levels (national, regionaland local), adapting the final design of activities to the particular circumstancesprevailing in each township, for a longer-lasting impact; proof of this is that thematerials edited are still being disseminated.21The primary aim of the most important nation-wide campaign conducted in Austriain the last five years, Stop violence (1998-1999), was to enhance the awarenessraisingof violence against women. A toll-free 24-hour hotline was set up during thecampaign (helpline 800), which provides information on what to do in situations ofviolence against women as well as on the social services available (shelters, supportcentres, legal counsel...).This campaign involved a television spot and brochures. It was intended for all kindsof targets (public at large, victims, witnesses of violent acts, perpetrators...).As the number of calls received in the telephone support service was very large fromthe outset, the service continues to be available. It is run by experts who specify howto deal with violence crises as well as the information to be provided on where to goin each stage of the process. The campaign was evaluated and found to have had agreater impact than expected.Two other campaigns – likewise nation-wide - were conducted in Austria in the lastfive years, consisting primarily of brochures targeting victims and the professionalscatering for them.The first, Combating Violence against women and children (1998), purposed to beginto make up for the lack of information on the subject. The other campaign, titledWomen have rights/ are right (2002) and designed on the basis of the know-howacquired during the former experience, tried to respond more specifically to whatshould be done when violence occurs, as well as to questions about existing legaland penal measures.The awareness exercise conducted in Austria constitutes good practice in terms ofco-ordination and integration of the different services providing support for violencevictims, in which the know-how acquired in preceding stages is effectivelyincorporated in subsequent endeavours.22The three main campaigns conducted on violence against women in Belgium in thelast five years targeted the population at large and consisted of the following:1) Rompez le silence avant qu´il ne vous casse (Break your silence before itdestroys you) (1999), geared to informing victims and coroners about physical andsexual violence; 2) Brisons le silence avant qu´il ne nous brise. La violence dansle couple est un délit puni par la loi (Let’s break our silence before it breaks us.Partner violence is a crime punishable by law) (2001), a campaign that constitutedthe first stage of a broader awareness policy undertaken by the FederalGovernment and federated states, which used posters, informative brochures andads in the press, as well as a press conference; 3) Cool, moins de violence ça neferait pas de mal (Cool it, we could use a little less violence) (1999), a messagethat attempted to prompt reflection, especially among young people and with aview to prevention, about the presence of violence in society, stressing four majorsubject areas: violence at school, family violence, street violence and the problemof teenage tribes; the media used were posters and hand bills.The campaigns conducted in Belgium constitute good practice in the attempt toraise the awareness of the population at large about the need to break the silencesurrounding the violence perpetrated against women in order to eradicate it.Moreover, as described in the following section, two pioneer campaigns againstsexual harassment were run in Belgium, to sensitise public opinion about the need toeradicate this specific form of violence, which seems to be enormously resistant tochange.The two most important campaigns conducted in Denmark in the last five years,included in the General Action Plan to Prevent Domestic Violence against Women,were nation-wide and used brochures, publications and web pages as media. One ofthese campaigns, White Ribbon (2000-2001), funded by the Ministry for GenderEquality, targeted the male population in general and perpetrators, in an attempt to23enhance their awareness of violence against women and reverse the acceptance ofsuch violence among men. The evaluation of the impact of this campaign showedthat the results were, as expected, very promising.The Ministry of the Interior ran another campaign in 2000 intended to provideminority ethnic groups (in particular victims and witnesses of violence) withinformation on partner violence.As a follow-up to the sensitisation work carried out, Denmark will undertake newawareness-raising campaigns on violence against women early in 2002, likewisetargeting professionals (health services, doctors, police officers, social workers andpeople employed in support centres for women in crisis situations) who work with theperpetrators and the victims of violence. The aim is to strengthen co-operationamong such professionals and provide wide-ranging and mutual knowledge of thevarious endeavours and initiatives under way; this information will be included in apublication synthesising the information on the work performed by each group ofprofessionals.The campaigns conducted by Denmark constitute good practice in terms, on the onehand, of awareness geared to the male population at large to sensitise them to theviolence to which some men subject women, and on the other of the co-ordination ofthe efforts made by professionals in different areas working with the victims andperpetrators of such violence. This type of co-ordination is repeatedly recommendedboth by the Fourth World Conference on Women and the various European Unionexpert groups.The three most important campaigns conducted in Spain (by the Institute forWomen) in the last five years to combat gender-based violence were nation-wide inscope and used a variety of media (television and radio spots, ads in the press,posters and brochures).24The purpose of the first of such campaigns, 1999, geared particularly to victims, wasto encourage them to report such acts of violence. The spot showed a woman takingoff her make-up in front of a mirror, staring at the signs of a beating on her face. Andthe motto is: if you hide the truth, no one will know that you need help; don’t let fearscar you, dial (the following number)....In the second, conducted in 2000 and targeting the public at large as well aswitnesses and perpetrators of violence, the spot showed a child consoling hismother, lying on the floor after an aggression. The purpose was to sensitise theSpanish public to the severity of the problem of violence against women. The sloganwas Violence against women hurts us all. Society condemns it and so does the law.This spot, which was awarded a prize by the media, prompted a particularly intensesocial debate.The last of these campaigns (2001), also geared to victims, was likewise intended toencourage women suffering violence to report it. In this campaign, a woman calls theInstitute for Women telephone support centre, but is unable to utter a word. Theslogan was: If words fail you, so will everything else. Get a hold of your life. Speakup.All the campaigns were systematically evaluated, with the results showing that theyhad substantial impact both on the information community -the media- and the targetgroups. One indication of such impact was that immediately after the spots werebroadcast, a significant increase was consistently recorded in the number of callsabout abuse received in the Institute for Women's 24-hour call centre.In parallel with such campaigns, the following action was conducted to sensitise themedia about their role in this struggle:1) The declaration of 25 November as the yearly Day to combat violence againstwomen, to contribute to reasserting society’s commitment to this goal, with25special coverage by the press, radio and television on the advances made andthe areas where efforts still need to be made.2) The development of an Advertising Observatory designed to eradicate sexism,using mainly two basic tools, a toll-free number to report adverse advertising anda Women’s Portrayal Advisory Board in the different media.3) The creation in 1999 of an annual award for the media and advertising agenciesto distinguish the ones making outstanding contributions to the struggle againstviolence against women.4) The organisation of working parties and seminars with media representatives andmanagers to analyse their role in the eradication of this problem, in which, inaddition to acknowledging their important contribution to the progress made,relevant self-criticism has been expressed on the need to provide betterprotection for the victims of violence, including the treatment given them in themedia.The work done in Spain in the area of sensitisation constitutes good practice interms of the evaluation of campaign impact, inducement of public debate and waysand means to encourage the media to assume their responsibility to combat sexismand violence against women.Since 1995, two important campaigns to combat violence against women have beenconducted in Finland. The campaign titled A single blow is one too many, conductedin 1998, was both national and local in scale and targeted the population at large,victims, children and young adults, as well as perpetrators, with television spots, adsin the press, billboards, posters and brochures. The campaign also included aneight-day seminar for professionals, DV articles in in-house journals, magazinescirculated to all the households in Helsinki, readings titled When love hurts open tothe public in the Helsinki Adult Education Centre, four different posters (woman, abride with a black eye – love is patient but how patient?; man – you have the26courage to hit, do you have the courage to seek help?; boy - from father to son?; girl– from mother to daughter?) placed in buses, trams and underground cars and majorbus, tram and underground stations during the weeks the campaign lasted. The mainmedia used for the nation-wide campaign was a television spot whose centralmessage was A single blow is one too many which also contained information on atelephone call centre providing help during the campaign.In 2000 Finland conducted an important regional campaign to combat violenceagainst women, titled When love hurts, targeting the public at large, children andyoung people, witnesses to violence, teachers, youth leaders and workers. Themedia used included: radio and television spots, ads in the press, posters and webpages. The primary objective of the campaign was to change attitudes among youngmen. Most of the work took place in schools, using participatory methods such assketches and music. Thanks to the international co-operation enlisted, materialscould be produced in both Finnish and Swedish, and posters for the European Unioncampaign in English.The two campaigns conducted in Finland since 1995 were systematically evaluated.The results were very promising, as expected.The work done in Finland to raise awareness is good practice in terms of how togear campaigns to help change men's, including perpetrators', attitudes; it is also anexample of how to link large-scale measures, such as spots and posters, to in-depthwork, such as activities carried out in schools designed to help pupils assumeattitudes contrary to violence against women as part of their personalities byinvolving them in participatory methods, which are the most effective to achieve thisaim.The campaign run in France en 2001-2002 to combat violence against women ingeneral is nation-wide in scope and organised around the slogan En cas de violence,brisez le silence (In cases of violence, break your silence), targeting the populationat large, victims, witnesses and professionals working with victims. The media used27were: ads in the press, billboards, brochures, publications, web pages and cardsproviding information on 24-hour call, nation-wide and permanent services of shelterand guidance. The campaign intended to raise the awareness of both professionalsand the public at large about the different forms of violence against women, withinformation on the characteristics of this kind of violence, behaviour that needs to beencouraged, the steps to follow and possible legal action.The campaign is part of a three-year overall action plan designed to foster close cooperationbetween institutions and associations and link nation-wide and local action,through three main areas of action: 1) reinforcement of the networking in placethroughout France; 2) development of preventive action and support for victims(which includes the collaboration of associations and institutions) and 3)collaboration in the community with local groups to foster professional insertion or reinsertionof women victims of violence. This awareness campaign must reinforce theeffectiveness of the three measures, and the staff sensitisation.In France it has also been implemented, in January 2002, a campaign, likewisenation-wide, to combat sexual violence against minors, discussed in the sectionbelow that deals specifically with sexual violence.The sensitisation carried out in France to combat all types of violence againstwomen constitutes good practice in terms of collaboration between public andprivate bodies, effectively linking nation-wide and local endeavours. Therefore, thecommissions of the departments to combat violence against women gather localinstitutions, professionals and associations, co-ordinating the different actions aimingat the eradication of this problem.The most important campaign to combat violence against women in Greece inrecent years, Zero Tolerance (1999-2000), was geared to the domestic environmentand the public at large and deployed a series of media: television and radio spots,ads in the press, posters, brochures and publications. The campaign was conducted28by the Centre on Equality Matters and financed by the European Union and theGeneral Secretariat for Equality (GSE).The aim was to raise awareness of and sensitise public opinion about the problem.To this end, huge billboards were posted in five major Greek cities (Athens, Patra,Volos, Iraklio, Thessaloniki), messages were broadcast on television and radio onboth local and national channels, six million brochures on domestic violence, signedby the Public Energy Corporation (DEH), were mailed, printed matter was edited,information stands were set up and a two-day meeting was held in Athens under thetitle Breaking the Silence–Violence in the Family. A Crime Behind Closed Windows.The evaluation of the impact of the campaign showed excellent results, even betterthan expected; another indication of its effectiveness was the increase in the numberof violence victims repairing to support centres.The second most important campaign conducted in Greece on this subject, theInformation Campaign in the Area of Epirus about Violence against Women, wasregional in scope. Run by the Centre for Research and Support of Victims of Abuseand Social Exclusion, it included the following action: production and disseminationof printed matter on the resources available, production and broadcasting of 32weekly programmes on a local television channel titled Window on life, a seven-hourtelevision marathon to sensitise the local community and raise funds for violencevictims, establishment of an information stand in the city’s main square, open twelvehours a day for six months, production and broadcasting of radio messages; andbroadcasting of a television spot on three national television channels.The third campaign conducted in Greece in the last five years was titled Awarenessof Violence against Women; local in scope, it targeted local associations, women’sorganisations, social services and hospitals. This campaign was run by the Instituteof Educational Technology of Crete and the Prefecture of Iraklion.29The sensitisation work done in Greece constitutes good practice in terms of how toinvolve various segments of society in campaigns against domestic violence and coordinatethe collaboration between public and private institutions, including in thisregard specialised centres (research, education, communication), the media andlocal institutions.Three important campaigns have been conducted in Ireland since 1995 to combatviolence against women. The first, Important information for women, carried out in1999 (with a second edition in 2000), which was national, regional and local inscope, was geared to victims and used the following media: radio and televisionspots, ads in the press and brochures adapted to the eight Health Board regions ofIreland. For that a Directory of Services for Women experiencing violence or thethreat of violence was shaped. This comprehensive document lists all the servicesavailable for these women. Over 5,000 copies were distributed to doctors, A&E staff,citizen information centres, libraries, police and services providers. The Directory isavailable on CD ROM, and also accessible through the Department of Justice,Equality and Law Reform website (www.justice.ie). Although no formal evaluationwas performed, the fact that this directory had to be re-edited in subsequent years isan indication of its success.A second campaign run in Ireland in 2000 under the slogan Going forward targetedthe public at large through television and radio spots, ads in the press, posters, pressand pins. The campaign emblem was intended to convey support for womensuffering violence. One indication of its success was the 30,000 pins sold acrossIreland. This same motto had already been the object of a successful presscampaign conducted in 1998, the purpose of which was to raise awareness of theexistence of the National Steering Committee on Violence against Women, letvictims know that they are not alone, that there are services designed to help themand tell perpetrators that violence against women is criminal behaviour that must bestopped.30The sensitisation carried out in Ireland constitutes good practice in connection withthe co-ordination of national and local measures as well as action taken by thedifferent services involved in helping violence victims and raising the awareness ofthe population in general to the need to provide support for victims.Since 1995, three important campaigns to curb violence against women have beenconducted in Italy with European fund financing. The first, Zero tolerance, 1998-1999, regional and local in scope, targeted the public at large, victims, children andyoung adults, witnesses of violence and law enforcement bodies. A number of mediawere used: television and radio spots, ads in the press, billboards, posters,brochures, publications, videos and web pages. The messages, showing youngwomen in different everyday situations, encourage them to live without fear. The aimis to raise public awareness to the fact that violence against women exists, as wellas to the need to ensure that men's violent behaviour should not be tolerated in anyway. This campaign was run following the guidelines set out in the Europeanproposal and fell on highly sensitive ground in certain communities, especially inBologna and the Emilia Romana Region. It contributed to raise awareness about thestruggle against the tendency to legitimise violence.In 1998, the Pink Telephone, the leading Italian association against violence,sponsored the nation-wide campaign Se un giorno qulcuno (If on any given day) thattargeted the general public, victims and elderly women, using media such astelevision and radio spots, ads in the press, brochures and conferences and roundtables. The spots depicted normal situations which might place women, in particularelderly women, at risk.The third Italian campaign, which took place in 1999, under the title Pink Europe2000, targeted the public at large, victims and young tourists, using the followingmedia: television spots, ads in the press, brochures, publications... One of theobjectives was to alert young women travelling in Italy against possible aggression or31the risk of being lured into danger, furnishing basic information on what to do if theywere subject to violence.The three campaigns conducted in Italy since 1995 were systematically evaluated.The results, as expected, were very promising, and roused a good deal of interest,inducing discussion on the characteristics of violence against women. This, in turn,helped to raise awareness among many women and men, social serviceprofessionals and policy makers, to the severity of the problem of male violence andthe need to train professionals working in this area, as well as the need to takeaction from a number of different areas to prevent violence and put an end to socialtolerance of violence.The work done in Italy in the area of sensitisation constitutes good practice withrespect to the evaluation of campaign impact, involvement of NGOs, connection withEurope-wide action and inducement of debate in society as a whole.The most important campaign conducted in Luxembourg in the last five years tocombat violence against women and girls, Fini le compromis (Meet the commitment)(1999-2001), was nation-wide in scope and used a number of different media(television spots, posters, brochures and publications). It was geared to differenttargets: public at large, victims, witnesses of violence, minors and young people.On the occasion of the campaign, most of the country’s newspapers publishedarticles on the subject intended to create an environment against violence and infavour of victims, furnish information on prevention and legal support, eliminatetaboos, sensitise the public about the responsibility of the perpetrators and the needto repress violence on legal and institutional grounds.This campaign is an initiative of the Ministry for Advancement of Women and wasconducted in conjunction with thirty-some NGOs, other ministries and the policeforce.32In addition to co-operation among these institutions, the campaign covered thefollowing activities: a conference on research summarising specific and alarmingstatistics on potential violence in men; training on de-victimisation and feministinvolvement geared to professionals working in shelters (based on a working methoddeveloped in Quebec, with excellent results, which enables violence victims torecover their self confidence and overcome the feeling of guilt) and self-defencecourses for adult women and teenagers.In conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, this campaignwas linked to the one conducted to combat violence in school, with a poster conteston the subject and dedicating the closing day of the campaign, 27 November 1999,to solidarity with victims.The work done in Luxembourg constitutes good practice in terms of how toarticulate collaboration among public institutions and between such institutions andthirty-some NGOs involved in the campaign; this type of collaboration is highlightedin the proposals ensuing from the Fourth World Conference on Women andunquestionably played an important role in the good results obtained.Two nation-wide campaigns to combat domestic violence have been conducted inPortugal in the last five years.In one, Youth Foundation (1999-2000), intended for the public at large andparticularly for young people, the media deployed included television, posters,brochures and web pages. The purpose was to furnish information on violence andchange the attitudes that prompt it, thereby advancing in the area of prevention andreporting.The second nation-wide campaign, Information service for victims of domesticviolence, was geared to the public at large and victims, using different media:television and radio spots, ads in the press, posters, information posters and33publications. The aim was to furnish information on a 24-hour telephone supportservice.The third campaign listed, School against violence in family (1999-2000), wasregional in scope and was based on posters, brochures and publications. Thepurpose was to sensitise the educational community, in particular children andteenagers, about the reality of domestic violence, especially violence suffered bywomen and minors, furnishing information and documents to help clarify conceptsand raise awareness of the problem.Although systematic evaluations of the impact of these campaigns have not beenconducted, the overall results were highly evaluated.The campaigns conducted in Portugal, geared primarily to children, young adultsand the school environment, constitute good practice in terms of changing attitudesthat lead to violence before such attitudes develop, a measure that is highly relevantto preventing such violence in the future and one that, while generally acknowledgedto be essential, is not often sufficiently implemented in practice.Of the campaigns conducted since 1995 and reported by the United Kingdom in itsreply to the questionnaire, three proved to be particularly relevant:1) Breaking the chain, 1999, England and Wales, campaign based on aninformation guide and posters geared to the general public and domesticviolence victims, as well as people aiming to help them, and distributed orposted in public buildings (municipal bodies, bookstores, police stationsand emergency wards). According to the information available, an updatedversion of the guide could be circulated since summer 2002. Followingthis, another project is planned for 2003 includes a BBC television networkadvertising initiative. This will involve a television play on domesticviolence, current affairs show with testimonials from victims of domesticviolence. Other types of information on the problem will also be available34on the network's web page and through a support and information callcentre that will be in place once the broadcasts begin.2) Living without fear, 1999, England and Wales, campaign targeting victimsand people working with them, which used the following media: ads in thepress, posters, brochures and publications. These media showedexamples of good practice in different areas of England and Wales anddrew attention to the ways that governmental support could afford addedvalue to the measures undertaken by local institutions.3) Behind closed doors, 2000-2001. Scotland, campaign geared to thepopulation as a whole, using a spot broadcast on television and shown inmovie theatres. A survey on its effectiveness showed that the awarenessrate was 75%, a figure regarded to be high in this type of evaluation. Aprevious campaign entitled Domestic bliss, was conducted in Scotland in1998-99 and awarded three stars by the Institute of Practitioners inAdvertising.In addition to the foregoing, the United Kingdom reported on the local campaignsconducted to adapt information very specifically to the peculiarities of the differentcommunities involved, such as in Northern Ireland. The issues addressed in thesecampaigns included domestic violence and pregnancy and the directories circulatedon the services available also contained examples of good practice and other basicinformation.The awareness raising conducted in the United Kingdom is good practice withrespect to co-operation among national and local institutions and ways to integratethe different campaigns in a general plan to reach the broadest possible audienceand enhance campaign effectiveness by involving the private sector and expandingon the vehicles to be used through co-operation with television networks.Of the most effective campaigns conducted in Sweden, was the series implementedin Stockholm titled Operation Leave Women Alone that targeted the public at large,35using as the basic media brochures and posters hung in the public transportationsystem (underground, bus and train).The first of these campaigns, in 1997, stressed women’s vulnerability when they arevictims of violence.The second, in 1999, attempted to raise awareness about men's responsibility inmale violence towards women and sensitise them to the need to become involved inthe struggle to curb this problem.The third, in 2000, sought to enhance understanding about the situation of girls andboys in families where the man is violent to the woman.The evaluation of their impact reflected very good results, even better than expected.Eighty per cent of the population reported that they were aware of the campaigns.Significant coverage was given to the subject in the media (press, radio andtelevision) as well, and extended beyond the strictly local area.Moreover, in 1998 Sweden implemented a nation-wide campaign, conducted by theNational Organisation for Women’s Shelters and Young Women’s Shelters inSweden with Government funding and wide media support (ads in the press, radioand television, brochures, posters and publications), geared to eradicating the mythsthat contribute to violence against women and targeting both perpetrators andvictims, stressing that such violence is a crime and sensitising public opinion aboutthe role of shelters for victims.36The campaigns conducted in Sweden constitute good practice insofar as they are anattempt to sensitise the public in general about their connections with violenceagainst women to help overcome the strong tendency to erroneously regard suchviolence as a very remote problem, affecting only men and women unrelated to thetarget audience, enabling this segment of the population to use the informationprovided to improve their everyday relations and prevent violence against women inany of its forms.1.4. Good practice in terms of awareness about sexual violence againstwomen in European Union Member StatesThe results obtained in the Eurobarometer (1999) indicate that Europeans have aparticular aversion to sexual violence against women, since the percentage ofpeople who regard it to be a very serious offence (90%) is higher than thepercentage classifying other types of violence as very serious: physical violence(87%); psychological violence (65%); restriction of freedom (64%) and threatenedviolence (58%).Despite the foregoing, studies on sexual violence indicate that the frequency is muchhigher than would be expected and to prevent it, a series of sexist beliefs thatcontribute to such violence must be eradicated, beliefs that continue to associatemen’s worth with their ability to overcome women’s resistance to their sexualovertures, underestimating male self-control in such situations, especially whencertain levels of arousal have been reached, and sustaining that men are subject toongoing sexual tension that can be harmful if not released.Even though important progress has been made in the European Union in recentdecades with respect to the information about sex available to the population atlarge, which has helped to overcome certain taboos and reduce certain risks (suchas unwanted pregnancies or the contagion of sexually transmitted diseases),37attempts to prevent sexual aggression in these campaigns have been significantlyscant. The most relevant advances have been made in programmes implemented ineducational contexts, described below.Good practice in this regard consists of extending certain of the elements of sucheducational programmes that have proved to be particularly effective to the entirepopulation; some examples are: the concept of sexual abuse and its incompatibilitywith the right to sexual freedom, the overcoming of beliefs that associate men’sworth with their ability to wear down women’s resistance or the need for men tounderstand that when a woman says no, she means no.Denmark implemented, in 1999, a national campaign targeting professionalscatering for the victims of sexual violence, using brochures and publications asmedia.Conducting a sensitisation campaign, as the one implemented by Denmark,targeting women victims of sexual abuse and violence, can be considered goodpractice, concerning this type of violence.In France, a nation-wide campaign has been launched in January 2002 to curbsexual violence among minors, geared to the public at large, victims and witnesses.The main media used include television spots and (advertising-type) short films,(situational) feature films, a commemorative billboard on the National Assembly'sproclamation of the rights of the child and collaboration with the press andpublishers. A pre-test comparing mothers-fathers and daughters-sons results hasbeen very positive.The awareness campaign conducted in France constitutes good practice insofar asit will help break the silence on one of the forms of violence that is hardest to curb,namely sexual violence, and one that has seldom been the object of sensitisationcampaigns geared to the general public.38The campaign conducted in Holland before 1995 by the Ministry of Social Affairsand Employment Directorate for the Co-ordination of Emancipation Policy can alsobe considered to be good practice in sensitisation about sexual violence againstwomen. The purpose was to create an environment in which this subject could bediscussed and sensitise men and young adults of both sexes about the stereotypesunderlying the portrayal of masculinity and femininity, the impact they have on theirexpectations and behaviour in connection with women and the risk that they mayprompt certain types of sexual violence.This campaign was implemented through intermediaries and the media both (in foursub-campaigns). During the five years it lasted, a wide range of media wasdeployed: a magazine for young people, brochures, posters and press and televisionadvertising.The studies run on the effectiveness of the campaign reflected great interest on thepart of the media, due very likely to the novelty of the subject. The results showedthat two thirds of the population of Holland had seen some part of the subcampaignsand they were recognised, in the primary target group, by 70% ofrespondents. It was also found that the people who had seen the campaign haddiscussed the subject more often, felt more involved in it and were more aware it andheld attitudes more in keeping with the aims pursued than those who had not.The exercise in sensitisation about the problem of sexual violence conducted inHolland constitutes good practice in terms of prevention of such violence, changing,in the public at large but especially in men and young adults of both sexes, sexistprejudice and stereotypes that can lead to sexual aggression. The study run on itseffectiveness may be regarded as a model of how to apply rigorous and systematicevaluation methods to measures taken to prevent violence against women.391.5. Good practice in awareness to the problem of workplace violenceagainst womenDespite the recommendations proposed by the European Commission in its 1991Code of practice on measures to combat sexual harassment, the Report on sexualharassment in the workplace in the European Union (Luxembourg 1999), publishedeight years later, showed that the changes perceived in this regard are scarcelysignificant. Why is progress in the struggle against sexual harassment in theworkplace so slow?The report cites as possible causes a series of difficulties that could be circumventedvia appropriate sensitisation campaigns, such as:• An unawareness and lack of understanding, in broad segments of thepopulation, of the concept of sexual harassment: particularly among men, butamong women as well.• The difficulty of eradicating stereotypes that contribute to maintaining theproblem.• The obstacles that still exist to report such incidents and the reluctance ofcompanies to acknowledge them.Such difficulties indicate that priority needs to be granted to prevention overpunishment and that the political agenda for the coming years must inexcusablyinclude sensitisation campaigns geared to both the public at large and the segmentsthat play a decisive role in eradication of this problem (employers, trade unions,management and staff support teams, judges, prosecutors...).The experience acquired in sensitisation about domestic violence, described above,may help to advance in this area, which appears to be highly resistant to change.It is, moreover, important to bear in mind that there is some risk that the awarenessof the extreme gravity of domestic violence may on occasion lead to an40underestimation of the severity of other forms of violence against women, such asworkplace harassment, and a failure to understand the relationship between the two,or to capitalise on public sensitivity to the more serious situations to combat them all.It may be deduced from the foregoing that there is a need to extend the impact ofsensitisation campaigns so that violence against women can be seen as an attackon their dignity, which includes both the most extreme and least frequent types ofaggression as well as other forms, such as workplace sexual harassment. While lesssevere, such abuse also has disastrous consequences on the victims’ careers andphysical and mental health, reduces the effectiveness and quality of theorganisations where it occurs and constitutes a serious obstacle to development andprogress towards equal opportunities for women and men.The sensitisation about and debate on the possible gender components of workplacebullying may be regarded as good practice in combating violence against women inthe workplace, since the problem of bullying appears especially to affect people incertain positions (such as subordination) that are more frequently filled by womenthan men, and thereby expand the struggle against sexual harassment to all kinds ofworkplace harassment against women.Pursuant to the guidelines proposed by the European Union and therecommendations and analyses drawn up by trade unions, good practice in terms ofsensitisation to sexual harassment and bullying in the workplace may be consideredto consist of the following features:1) Conduct campaigns to enhance the visibility of the harassment to which womenare often subject in the workplace, helping to make victims aware that they arenot alone, explaining their rights, the procedures to follow and the resources attheir avail. Such campaigns should eliminate stereotypes about the guilt ofharassment victims and the innocence of the perpetrators, and to raiseawareness to the effect that reporting workplace violence is a duty. Reporting41opens the door to solving the problem and avoiding the appearance of furtherincidents.2) Foster and disseminate, in the business environment, the enforcement of theCode of practice adopted by the European Commission to combat sexualharassment and extend the scope to cover bullying.3) Include specific references to sexual harassment and bullying in collectivebargaining agreements, drafting clauses that define it broadly, as well asestablishing an open list of examples of conduct that constitute harassment inall of its forms.4) Promote the measures included in the European Union’s Code of practice onmeasures to combat sexual harassment, equally valid for bullying, in the tradeunion environment, including such measures in union proposals, specificclauses in collective bargaining agreements and information activities targetingworkers.5) Draw up employer charters or statements that define conduct that mayconstitute harassment, covering both sexual harassment and workplacebullying.The programmes for preventing workplace violence implemented by Danish tradeunions, in which many of the foregoing principles have been implemented, constitutegood practice.Furthermore, under the question on campaigns contained in the Questionnaire usedas background for this guide, two Member States, namely Belgium and Holland(before 1995), listed campaigns against workplace sexual harassment; suchcampaigns constitute good practice in terms of how to extend sensitisation effortsmade by the European Member States in connection with domestic violence to thespecific area of harassment against women in their place of work:42• In Belgium, three campaigns were conducted on the problem by the Servicede l’égalité des chances (Equal Opportunities Service), the body in charge ofproviding the first phase of support for victims of sexual harassment, informthem of their rights and guide them to the competent institutions (trade unions,legal inspection, medical inspection, National Labour Office, courts...).With one of these campaigns, Réseaux de personnes de confianceharcèlement sexuel sur les lieux de travail (Networks of confidentialcounsellors against workplace sexual harassment) 1996-2000, the aim is tocollaborate in, cater for, exchange information on and pose problems relatingto this specific form of violence, recognising that the confidential counsellorneeds to be deeply involved, psychologically, intellectually and from theadministrative standpoint.The second campaign, 1998, consisting of posters, conveyed the message:Un entretien avec la personne de confiance peut vous aider? Si pour vousc’est du harcèlement (Can a chat with the confidential counsellor help you? Ifit’s hard for you, it’s harassment). The need for such a campaign, intended toclarify the role of the confidential counsellor, was expressed by the peoplecomprising the network that grew out of the first campaign.The third campaign (2001), using brochures, publications and a web page asmedia, was the backdrop for a number of documents on such aspects as therole of the confidential counsellor, creation of the crime of sexual harassmentin the penal code, the status of the problem in the private sector... andincluding information on sexual harassment in a brochure titled Violence,comment s’en sortir (How to get out of a violent situation) which alsodescribes other forms of violence.• Holland’s campaign, conducted in 1994 after enactment of the WorkingConditions Act, included a television spot showing a man trying to make43photocopies while he was assailed by a dog intent upon copulating with hisleg. This situation, highly uncomfortable for the subject, was an attempt todepict how women feel when they receive much the same treatment frommen. The slogan was: Women feel like this when sexually harassed by aman. How would you behave in such a situation?Copies of the picture were also distributed to workplaces. This measure waspart of a broader campaign on sexual violence against women run in Hollandbetween 1991 and 1995, described in the preceding section.442. EDUCATION AND SPECIALISED TRAINING2.1. Education2.1.1. Measures to combat violence against women through educationproposed in the Fourth World Conference on WomenAs the Fourth World Conference on Women acknowledged in its Platform for Action,equality, partnership between women and men and respect for human dignity mustpermeate all stages of the socialization process. Educational systems shouldpromote self-respect, mutual respect, and co-operation between women and men.The measures to be adopted to achieve this through education include, mostexplicitly:• Modifying sexist models and prejudice based on the idea of inferiority orsuperiority of one or the other sex.• Raising awareness of the fact that violence against women is a violation of theirhuman rights.• Sensitising public opinion about the adverse effects of violence on the family, onthe social setting and on the society.• Teaching youngsters to communicate without violence.• Counselling present or potential violence victims so they can protect themselvesagainst aggression.• Eliminating bullying and other forms of violence from educational institutions.2.1.2. Measures proposed in the area of education to combat violence againstwomen in the European UnionThe crucial role that education can and should play in the eradication of violenceagainst women is generally acknowledged throughout the European Union, both by45people in different professions and areas working specifically in this field, who nearlyalways stress the importance of educational change, and by society at large, whichconsiders education to be a fundamental tool to change the attitudes and behavioursthat tend to perpetuate sexism and violence against women from one generation tothe next.The results of the 1999 Eurobarometer survey on violence against women arerelevant in this regard: 91% of the respondents asserted that teaching young peoplemutual respect could help to combat the problem.But acknowledging the importance of education in the eradication of violence againstwomen does not appear to suffice to reach the desired aims. The fact that theproposals formulated in different international fora on this subject rarely includedetailed and specific recommendations that go any farther in this direction than theterms of the Platform for Action ensuing from the Beijing Conference may, forinstance, be construed as evidence of this.Furthermore, in the replies from Member States to the Questionnaire on GoodPractice used to prepare this paper, only four of them, (Finland, France, Spain andUnited Kingdom) indicated good educational practice to be particularly effective,noting moreover, that while the subject of violence against women is gradually beingincluded in formal schooling curricula and initial and continuing teacher education,this is not by any measure systematic or general practice.These results concur with the findings of the 1999 Eurobarometer, in which only8.6% of the respondents said they had dealt with the subject in school.The strategies being used to overcome such limitations and to include the subject informal education include:• The production and distribution of teaching materials (Austria, Finland, Holland,Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom).46• Incentives for formulating such materials in the form of subsidies and awards(Spain and Sweden).• The inclusion of the subject as part of cross-curricular themes such as equalopportunities for men and women (Austria, Belgium, France and Spain), violence(Italy and Luxembourg) or more specifically, through programmes designed tocombat school violence, that include express training on how to deal with it(Austria, Germany, Holland and Spain) through general sensitisation campaignsabout domestic violence targeting the school-age public (Portugal).• The introduction of domestic violence is covered indirectly under the wide subjectarea of relationships and citizenship (United Kingdom) or as an elective unit thatmay be taken by middle school students (Ireland).• The inclusion of the gender perspective in sex education programmes (France,Germany, Holland and Sweden), bringing specific programmes on the preventionof sexual violence implemented by other institutions to schools (United Kingdom,under the Crime Reduction Programme), or organising classroom lectures byexperts in the prevention of sex abuse (Austria).• The delivery of training in non-violent ways of dealing with conflicts (Germany,Greece, Holland and United Kingdom).• The conducting of pilot programmes either by the Government or researchteams, which are systematically evaluated before being distributed or generallyimplemented (Finland, Germany, Greece, Holland, Spain and United Kingdom).• The inclusion of the issue linked to the sexual differences in the studies to betaken by teaching staff (France) or as a requisite in the education coursesrequired of all university professors (Sweden).2.1.3. Characteristics of good educational practice to combat violence againstwomen in generalThe results obtained in recent research on this subject point in the same direction asthe proposals of the Fourth Beijing Conference and acknowledge that the generalcharacteristics of good educational practice designed to prevent violence againstwomen in all its forms should comply with the following criteria:471) Teach youngsters how to practise equality through co-operation between girls andboys based on mutual respect. Co-operating from childhood and youth aroundshared goals and on an equal footing is a way of encouraging empowerment, anattitude incompatible with violence with violence against women, and of contributingto the elimination of two of the main conditions underlying this type of violence: theunequal distribution of power in society and the resistance to change fostered by thissituation, particularly among men.2) Include the struggle against sexism and violence in the school curriculum, teachingchildren to detect and combat problems that lead to sexism and violence againstwomen. The mechanisms through which this behaviour is perpetuated are sodifficult to eradicate that it does not suffice for schools to be non-sexist or nonviolent:rather, the school curriculum needs to include experiences that activelyand explicitly combat these two serious problems.3) Favour ways of overcoming the various components of sexism and gender violenceby encouraging cognitive, emotional and behavioural change, for which accountmust be taken of the following:• The cognitive component of sexism consists of confounding the social orpsychological differences between women and men with sex-linked biologicaldifferences, in the erroneous belief that the former are an automatic andinevitable outcome of the latter, dismissing the impact of history, culture,upbringing...• Such beliefs often underlie the idea that women are inferior to men and in thatregard justify discrimination and violence. Good practice in handling thisproblem includes reversing the invisibility of women in the curriculum byincluding the study of the history of discrimination and violence against women.48• The emotional component or valuation underlying these problems hinges onsexist identity building, which associates female values with weakness andsubmission and male values with strength, absolute control, emotional staminaor the use of violence, in particular in situations in which their manliness isthreatened.This component explains the relationship - observed for decades and stillreported in recent studies - between the sexist approach to male identitybuilding and most of the male violence, including not only violence againstwomen, but their aggressive behaviour towards other men or even themselves.The discussion of experience based on role models (among classmates andteachers) whose attitudes are openly contrary to sexism and violence iseffective in dealing with this component.• The behavioural component of sexism consists of the tendency to put it intopractice through discrimination and violence. The risk of such behaviour rises inthe absence of positive alternatives for responding to psychological and socialfunctions (stand out, reduce insecurity, join a peer group, resolve conflicts ofinterest...) without resorting to destructive behaviour.Practices that afford experience in the development of alternatives contributesto overcoming this component.4) Include the struggle against sexism and violence in a broader perspective: thedefence of human rights. Progress in the prevention of sexism and violenceagainst women can only be made if students are helped to discover that theseproblems are not only detrimental to the most obvious victims, but to society as awhole, and to view them from a broader, more universal perspective.Effective ways of achieving this include practices that sensitise students to theviolations of human rights taking place in the private domain, where most such49violations take place, helping them to understand that sexism is a serious threatto such rights, especially when it translates into violence.Including sexism and violence in a broader perspective, depicting them as seriousthreats to human rights, leads youngsters to regard them as problems that affecteveryone, since they jeopardise the level of justice required to guarantee respect forour rights.It is also important to enhance awareness of the limitations that sexism andviolence impose on all human beings, by reducing values to the stereotypesassociated with one’s own sex (nurturing for women and energy for men, forinstance) and hindering the development of values traditionally associated with theother sex or even discriminating against people who include such other values intheir identity.5) Develop educational procedures that make it possible to implement the aboveobjectives, in which students are called upon to play a very active role, interactingwith their classmates, to counter social influences that lead to sexism and violenceagainst women; the aim is to teach them to critically analyse the stereotypes andmodels underlying the recurrence of such attitudes, such as often conveyed in themedia. Good practice in this regard consists of using the media in schoolprogrammes against sexism and violence.6) Furnish schools with the facilities needed to implement effective programmes toprevent violence against women, favouring technical and practical teacher training,providing incentives for the effort that educational innovation always entails,encouraging the inclusion of these programmes in schools’ educational projects sothey are assumed on the grounds of consensus, providing the space and time toset them up and evaluate them systematically, to monitor the progress made andidentify any adjustments required, furnishing the various facilities that make all thisfeasible (funding, materials, scheduling adjustments, human resources, experts towhom inquiries can be addressed...).507) Integrate the action taken in the educational context with measures implemented inall other contexts around which society is structured, connecting them from a multidisciplinaryapproach that enables teachers to co-operate with other social actors(who may be invited to participate in classroom activities, for instance) andevaluating the effectiveness of their task in preventing violence. Such an approachshould help teachers to overcome the feeling of impotence that this issue ofteninduces, due to its complexity, as well as to think globally (to combat adverseinfluence that may come from any of the segments comprising society: media,family...) and act locally (in the classroom, for instance).2.1.4. Difficulties encountered in educational institutions to implement themeasures proposed in the Fourth World Conference to combat violenceagainst womenOne of the cases described in the evaluation of the European Union’s DAPHNE(1998) programme on the struggle against violence towards women, minors andyoung adults illustrates the difficulties involved in moving from educational theory topractice in the subject of preventing such violence, as follows:At the outset most projects had a good, workable idea corresponding to themeasures and activities specified by the Daphne Initiative. There is, however,sometimes a gap between an idea, the plan of action and the actualimplementation of the idea. Not well thought out project proposals thatconsequently lacked a coherent methodology were the most common factorsresulting in ineffectiveness. When partnership complications are added to it,then projects had to seriously struggle to reach completion.(...) An illustration of this is an organisation aiming to develop a preventiveprogramme on sexual harassment targeting both young women andeducational authorities. In practice, however neither the students nor the51educational staff were interested in the problems of sexual harassment anddid not wish to continue the training. This had rather discouraging effects.The point is that to appraise the effectiveness of programmes designed to fightviolence against women through education and the difficulties encountered in puttingsuch programmes into practice, account must be taken of the fact that the actorswho should lead the educational change proposed by the Fourth World Conferenceon Women, beginning with the teaching staff, often have serious doubts about howto implement it due, among others, to the following:1. Insufficient professional training to perform this task.2. Inability to fall back on educational models used during their own childhood andyouth to move ahead in this area.3. Uneven progress made under programmes conducted from the gender perspective,which have often proved to be more effective for women than men and aresometimes perceived by the latter as a threat.4. Complexity of a problem in which the perception of the risks involved hinders anyheadway. These risks include:• The risk that may be derived from the possible conveyance ofgeneralised fear, obstructing the development of constructive couplerelationships based on mutual respect.• The risk of converting the classroom into a context for airing clinicalproblems whose treatment teachers neither have nor feel they have thetraining to treat, in view of which they fear the cure may be worse thanthe disease.• The inability of traditional methods to curb the various kinds of socialpressure that may lead to the recurrence of sexist patterns, along withthe difficulties, for a sizeable proportion of the teaching staff, inherent in52the use of the type of educational procedures that might enable them toreach this aim.2.1.5. Good practice to prevent or detect domestic violence through educationin European Union Member StatesOn the grounds of the work performed with victims of domestic violence, includingwork systematically classified as research, three aspects of good educationalpractice to combat such violence can be singled out as particularly important, which:1) Help curb the intergenerational recurrence of violence by establishing conditionsthat ward off that risk.Studies of the personality traits of adults who live in families where violenceoccurs show that they were often brought up in a violent family background aswell, but the intergenerational reproduction is not inevitable. Most people whosuffered violence in childhood neither suffer from nor repeat this behaviour asadults.It is also observed that the people who in their adult lives break away from theviolence suffered as children differ from those who repeat such behaviour in aseries of ways which can, therefore, be developed to break the violence cycle andprevent its perpetuation:• The establishment of non-violent bonds of affections that afford gratifyingsocial experience and contribute to the development of basic self-confidenceand esteem.• The rejection of all kinds of violence, including the mistreatment of childrenand violence against women and the incorporation the explicit commitment toexclude violence from future relations as part of their own identity.53• The recognition of the violence experienced in the family of origin as just that,acknowledging such behaviour to be inappropriate and conveying to othersthe emotions it aroused (when, on the contrary, such experience is justified onthe grounds of sexist or patriarchal arguments, the risk of recurrence rises).• The acquisition of skills alternative to violence to deal with stress andeffectively solve social conflicts.The work carried out with the victims of domestic violence, in an attempt todevelop the above traits, reflects on the effectiveness of this approach to helpprevent the recurrence of violence.Moreover, the primary prevention programmes conducted in schools suggest thatthese same traits can be developed in teenagers not exposed to such violence, toprotect them from the adverse effects of possible future exposure.One example of good practice in this regard is action taken in Germany, based onthe Federal Government’s Action Plan to combat violence against women, whichstressed the need to break away from intergenerational recurrence of domesticviolence as one of the mainstays of prevention, taking account of the fact that theteachings of violence can only be countered in the long term if not only parents buteducators, teachers and even the media set examples of strategies free ofviolence to solve personal conflicts and convey, in the treatment of people, aculture of non-violence. The materials designed for teachers, parents and all thoseworking with young people, as well as the various pilot programmes run, wereformulated on these grounds.Some of the pilot programmes implemented were: Girls in the Context of YouthServices and Social Services for the Young, Alliance for Democracy andTolerance, against Extremism and Violence and the Federal Health EducationProgramme, geared to fostering communication and conflict-solving skills, self54esteem, personal responsibility and the need to change the stereotypes that leadto violence.2) Teach youngsters to detect the early signs of intimate partner violence, from thevery outset of such behaviour patterns. The studies conducted on partner violenceshow that the problem often appears in the early stages of the relationship.At first, the victim believes she can control it. In this first stage, violence isgenerally less frequent and less serious than in the later stages and often takesthe form of emotional abuse. The victim attempts to accommodate the perpetratorto avoid aggression, thereby enhancing her own vulnerability. Most perpetratorscombine this conduct with other kinds of behaviour, through which they persuadethe victim that the violence will not recur, alternating two types of behaviour, as ifthey were two different people.In the more advanced stages, the perpetrator threatens the victim with veryserious acts of violence if she leaves him, threats which may even lead the victimto fear for the safety of her children or other family members.A good understanding on the part of possible victims of the pattern describedcontributes to preventing violence by alerting them to the risk that the early stagesentail and to reject violence and victimisation as a part of their own identity.Sight should not be lost of the fact that very significant changes occur in genderidentity and the first partner relationships are formed in adolescence.Good practice, in this regard, consists of helping youngsters understand thatpartnerships must be based on mutual respect and to regard emotional abuse andabsolute control as incompatible with such relationships.The programmes (a book and two videos) that the Spanish Women’s Institute willbe sending out to secondary schools in Spain are geared to the above objective;55the programmes, which include a series of seventeen activities formulated andverified by a Complutense University of Madrid research team, in conjunction withsecondary school teachers, around the seven recommendations described in thepreceding section, aim to help teenagers build an identity contrary to sexism andviolence.In one of these activities, for instance, youngsters play the role of experts onviolence against women, designing television campaigns that target teenagers toencourage them not to engage in violence or which enable them to repudiateviolence in its early stages. By playing the role of experts against violence andsexism, they acquire the skills and know-how involved in such activities andidentify with the objective: the defence of the equality and dignity of all humanbeings, realising that sexism poses a threat that affects everyone in this regard.One of the aims of Personal, Health and Social Education and CitizenshipEducation lies in providing pupils knowledge, skills and understanding they needto lead confident, healthy and independent lives and to become informed, activeand responsible citizens (United Kingdom).3) Establish mechanisms that enable educational teams in schools to detect casesof domestic violence in the student body that may be affecting girls and theirmothers.Professionals working in schools are in an excellent position to detect suchproblems, since:1. They generally can watch girls every day throughout at least one school year.2. They are able to compare their behaviour with that of other girls of the same ageand from the same social and cultural background.563. They can interact with girls and their families. The studies run in this regard show,however, that most education professionals have serious doubts aboutconcluding, on the basis of their observations, that a girl is being mistreated. Thismay explain why they often fail to report cases where they detect such a risk, dueto the fear of erring and the possible adverse consequences of such a mistake.There are well grounded surveys that show that such obstacles can becircumvented by questionnaires or protocols formulated specifically for thatpurpose, systematising teachers’ observations on girls in risk situations which canlead to the initiation of inquiries and subsequent action by the respective social orjudicial services.2.1.6. Good practice in prevention of sexual violence through education in theEuropean Union Member StatesThe educational programmes implemented in recent decades to prevent or stop sexualabuse beginning in childhood attempt to develop a series of skills and resources thatprotect children from the risk of victimisation in both the sexual and other domains.Such skills enable teenage and younger girls to:1) Detect and avoid dangerous situations, without altering their basic trust in others.2) Say no in situations that may involve abuse without jeopardising their capacity forempathy and the establishment of gratifying social relationships.3) Ask for help when they need it and especially when they begin to be or riskbecoming victims.4) Be emotionally prepared not to feel guilty when they are not.Research on the prevention of victimisation in childhood and youth also stresses theneed to teach:571) That everyone is entitled to sexual freedom and, therefore, to say no to an unwantedintimate relationship or body contact.2) That there are secrets that should not be kept and that a victim is never, and shouldnever, feel guilty about situations created by people who abuse of their power, and thatany adult who behaves inappropriately in this sense must always be so regarded.3) That confidence counsellors (whom youngsters must be taught to choose) must betold about the disturbing or unwanted situations suffered to enlist the protection thatanyone needs when she starts to be a victim, since otherwise the problem tends toworsen.In studies conducted on prevention of victimisation, it is found that even one-hourprogrammes suffice to enable victims of such situations to report them, as it helps themto overcome their fear and sensation of guilt (the perpetrator’s principal allies) and askfor help.It is likewise observed that a few months after participating in these programmes, thereare two things that they tend to forget: that children are never guilty of the sexual abuseinflicted on them by adults and that there are secrets that should not be kept, beliefsthat contribute to victimisation and seem to be very deeply rooted in traditional sexistculture, as it is conveyed to children and teenagers.Pursuant to the foregoing, good practice consists of including the gender perspective insex education programmes delivered in school (France, Germany, Sweden) and theprevention of sexual abuse (Austria, Holland and United Kingdom).In this regard, for example, the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science sentschools a circular titled Safe schools, which stresses that education is only possible incontexts that meet that requirement and encourages the creation of environments thatguarantee such safety; the measures suggested include the implementation of58telephone information services for students and parents as well as teachers andprojects specifically geared to preventing sexual abuse and harassment by providinginformation, materials and training methods and organising lectures and other activitiesdesigned to create a safe atmosphere at school.2.1.7. Good practice in the prevention of violence in the workplace througheducation in the European Union Member StatesThe studies conducted in recent years on bullying at school, which include several ofthe projects on school violence implemented under the European Union’s Socratesprogramme and pioneered by Norway, show that such violence has characteristics incommon with sexual harassment and bullying among adults in workplace contexts,since the former:1) Generally include, in addition to physical aggression, teasing, threats, intimidation,humiliation, systematic exclusion, insults...2) Tend to originate problems that recur and last for some time.3) Are usually prompted by a single student, generally supported by a group, against adefenceless victim who is unable to get out of the situation by him/herself.4) Last over a more or less long time because the people surrounding the perpetratorsand their victims fail to interfere directly due to unawareness of the situation or theadoption of a passive attitude towards it.Studies on bullying at school show that it occurs rather more frequently than expected.It appears that at one time or another during their schooling, all students may suffer theharmful consequences of this problem, as passive observers, victims or perpetrators,which increases the risk of the recurrence of such problems in their adult lives.59The good practice implemented in recent years to prevent or detain bullying thatsometimes appears in schools is geared to creating standardised contexts (such asclass assemblies) in which the problems arising are periodically and preventivelydiscussed and procedures are developed to help establish a culture of non-violence,and zero tolerance of violence, on the part of all the members of the school community.To attain this:a) A non-violent style must be adopted to vent stress and solve conflicts thatmay arise, helping to actively build a culture of non-violence, teachingyoungsters to reject any behaviour that causes intimidation or victimisation. Thisimplies that adults must refrain from using such behaviour among themselves orwith their students.b) The conspiracy of silence that generally surrounds bullying at school must bebroken: indeed, the educational system itself, inside the institutions, may appearto side with the bullies when it does not encourage reporting of destructivesituations which, if not actively halted from the outset, tend to degenerate intomore serious problems.c) An end must be put to perpetrator impunity, breaking away from the tendencyto look the other way that usually prevails in schools when violence occurs. Thedisciplinary procedures that prove to be most effective against impunity andagainst the tendency for bullying to recur are the ones that: help the violentstudent to put him/herself in the victim’s place, understand how destructiveviolence is, repent from having used it and try to repair the damage done. Theavailability of mediators between bullies and their victims usually enhances theeffectiveness of such practice.602.2. Specialised training2.2.1. Measures on specialised training proposed in the Fourth WorldConference on WomenAs the Fourth World Conference on Women acknowledged in its Platform for Action,combating violence against women calls for promot(ing) an active and visible policyof mainstreaming a gender perspective in all policies and programmes related toviolence against women; actively encourag(ing), support(ing) and implement(ing)measures and programmes aimed at increasing the knowledge and understanding ofthe causes, consequences and mechanisms of violence against women amongthose responsible for implementing these policies, such as law enforcement officers,police personnel and judicial, medical and social workers, as well as those who dealwith minority, migration and refugee issues; the training delivered should help toprovide fair treatment for victims, avoid abuses of power and revictimisation.2.2.2. Specialised training in violence against women for professionalscatering for victims in the European UnionBased on the responses to the Questionnaire on Good Practice addressingspecialised training for victim support and assistance personnel, it is observed that:1) Law enforcement and security corps personnel are the ones who seem to havereceived most specialised training to deal with violence against women.In nine Member States (60%) training is included in the studies required to qualifyfor the position: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Luxembourg,Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Nine countries also include studies of this nature intheir continuing education programmes: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany,Holland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Specialised training for lawenforcement corps is nearly always furnished by public institutions.61An indication of the special status afforded police training in this area in theEuropean Union is the fact that a question in this regard was included on theEurobarometer (1999) and that 78% of the respondents said they agreed to theneed for the police force to receive specific training in the area of violence againstwomen.2) In three States (20%), social service professionals receive specific training on howto deal with violence against women to qualify for the job (Germany, Greece andIreland). In nine (60%), such training is provided in continuing education courses(Austria, Belgium, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden and UnitedKingdom –Northern Ireland-), delivered primarily by public institutions, although insome cases by private bodies as well. This training is often acquired under broaderprogrammes designed to combat violence against women.3) Court system staff must take specific training on the subject of violence againstwomen to qualify for the job in France and Spain only, i.e., 13% of the MemberStates. Six (40%) provide continuing education courses: Austria, Belgium, France,Germany, Spain and Sweden.4) Nine Member States (60%) do deliver courses on violence against women undercontinuing education programmes for health professionals (Austria, Belgium, France,Holland, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom – Northern Ireland-).5) Courses on violence against women are required much less frequently ofprofessionals engaging in law to qualify for their positions, with the imperative inplace in Ireland and Spain only. As far as continuing education for this community ofprofessionals is concerned, Austria and Sweden, in addition to Ireland and Spain,deliver training on violence against women.622.2.3. Characteristics of good practice in specialised training for professionalscatering for victimsPursuant to the recommendations proposed at the international expert conferenceheld at Vienna (1998) on Measures to Combat Male Violence against Women, goodpractice in specialised training is characterised by the following:1) General characteristics. Specialised training should contribute to interinstitutionalco-operation in this field – a process that involves circumventing considerableobstacles – and be subject to ongoing evaluation to ascertain which models andprocedures are most effective and should be universally implemented.This calls for formulating and evaluating specific training materials adapted to thenature of the work performed in each area. Given the special vulnerability ofwomen immigrants, professionals working in this field should receive trainingabout cultural diversity and racism.Good practice in this regard consists of including professionals from minoritygroups, especially women, in the services catering for victims from minoritygroups.2) Training and police support for victims of violence. In law enforcementorganisations, cases of violence against women should be entrusted to trainedofficers.Good practice in connection with such training is to involve experts from publicinstitutions and NGOs who work with violence victims.Police officers are entitled to receive clear and precise guidelines in the face ofthe ambivalence in society on violence against women. Moreover, police trainingmust help them to understand victims’ needs and provide treatment that63contributes to their empowerment, disregarding anything that obstructs theirrecovery from the psycho-social trauma caused by violence; in particular, nopressure should be exerted on the victim throughout the penal process.The States must guarantee that their officers are trained to avoid revictimisationand have to implement effective legal measures that ensure victims’ safety,undertaking effective and ongoing control procedures.Moreover, good practice in terms of specialised training to acquire the skills neededto handle particularly difficult situations such as in the case of professionals cateringfor violence victims, is identified in the research published on the subject in recentyears to comprise the following peculiarities:1. The training model should foster co-operation at several levels: first, amongofficers who are to apply new know-how and skills in their everyday work;second, among officers and other professionals working from complementaryperspectives (public institutions and NGOs, for instance), and third, among theabove two groups of professionals and independent experts conductingprogrammes to combat violence against women.2. The training programme should combine theory and practice, dividing the courseinto a series of sessions devoted to reflecting on the aims to be reached, theobstacles that are generally encountered and the innovations that may helpovercome them, establishing the relationship between theoretical principles andpractical activities.The course should be divided in accordance with a previously establishedschedule to be able to plan a given innovation, apply it in everyday practice andreflect on the benefits and difficulties as the practice is successivelyimplemented. This, in turn, implies that the training course should last for severalmonths.643. There should be incentives to reward the effort involved in participating in thetraining programme, with appropriate acknowledgement and credits on theperson’s professional record as well as financial remuneration.2.2.4. Good practice in specialised training on violence against women in theEuropean Union Member StatesThe paper on Legislation in the Member States of the Council of Europe in the fieldof violence against women (2001) contains a number of examples of good practice inrespect of specialised training for professionals catering for victims, in which theabove principles are applied:Belgium: Members of the gendarmerie and the police receive training on policeassistance to victims of violence and attend a basic instruction course onviolence. Some police stations have received grants for installing suitablereception facilities where victims of violence can be attended to and questioned ina calm environment. In order to qualify for the grant, a station must have put amember of its staff through the necessary training in specialised interviewtechniques for questioning victims.Since 1997, the training programme for judges and prosecutors has includedspecial training on physical and sexual violence. In 1998, this training was addedto the basic programme for trainee judges so that all the trainees in the countrynow take courses on the subject.The specialised training conducted in Belgium constitutes an example of goodpractice insofar as it involves the integrated delivery of theoretical and practicalknow-how on catering for victims in training courses for professionals, whichaddress specific techniques to gather information from and about people undergoingparticularly trying circumstances.65United Kingdom: In June 1999, the Home Office and the Women’s Unitpublished a joint document Living Without Fear, discussed in the chapter onawareness raising, which sets out an integrated approach to tackling violenceagainst women. It addresses all forms of violence against them, includingdomestic violence, sexual harassment, rape and sexual assault, violence at workand stalking.The document highlights concrete, practical examples from differentorganisations, agencies and local authorities, of how violence is beingsuccessfully tackled across the country. It focuses on the way differentorganisations and agencies work together to deliver better, quicker and moreeffective services for women who have experienced violence.The foregoing example of good practice in the United Kingdom, illustrates theimportance of complying with the recommendations of the paper on Implementingthe Beijing Platform for Action 1995-2000, in connection with the need to: create aninternational knowledge base of models to put an end to violence against women,including guidelines, model legislation, training modules, documentation proceduresand other decisive materials on the subject.In the Questionnaire on Good Practice used as background material for this guide,some Member States provide a detailed description of the process followed todeliver specialised training for people in charge of catering for violence victims, inwhich certain important characteristics of the recommendations proposed toenhance the quality of such training are observed:Austria: In 1996/1997, special training seminars were held for professionalsworking in the legal, medical, social, etc. fields to ensure victims are affordedsuitable treatment and violence is appropriately handled by the target groups.Since 1998, special seminars have been held for staff in offices providingsupport for women and other institutions offering assistance for women66subject to violence. The underlying philosophy of such interdisciplinaryseminars, based on previous experience, is that the different groups ofprofessionals need to co-operate with one another to protect victims. Theseseminars address issues such as ways to improve co-operation amonginstitutions and between them and the region where they conduct theiractivities and approaches that further the strong points and minimise the weakpoints of co-operation.These seminars showed a high effectiveness, Austria informs.The training effort deployed in Austria constitutes good practice in interdisciplinaryco-operation which, moreover, addresses both the issues that the constant contactwith violence poses for people who have to help victims and the need to teach andacquire the skills to deal with such issues.Belgium. In 1998 the training programme for judicial interns (stagiaires),included specific training on physical and sexual violence. In the context of theNational Action Plan against Violence towards Women of 11 May 2001, theMinistry of Justice, through the Senior Council of Justice, established specifictraining for the Bench with respect to intimate partner violence.These professionals have been sensitised about the problem of physical andsexual violence through study sessions (organised by the provincial coordinatingcommittees on combating violence against women) and thepublication for physicians Aidez-les à rompre le silence (Help them break theirsilence).In the framework of the above National Action Plan against Violence towardsWomen, the Ministry of Health has undertaken to sensitise family doctors andhealth professionals in emergency wards about domestic violence.67The Ministry of the Interior undertakes to train police and future police officers.The violence issue is broached from different types of training: legal, generaland socio-psychological, as well as in relation to professional techniques of apractical nature.The purpose of the police escort for victims support service or the victims'assistance centre is to sensitise all the officers in the corps on a face-to-facebasis. They ensure that all members of the corps receive training on supportfor victims, adapted to the various local situations. And they are in constantcontact with other agents involved in catering for victims.In 1996, the Ministries of the Interior and of Employment and Labour drafted aprotocol on the prevention of revictimisation that calls for police stations toestablish reception areas for victims of physical and sexual violence, whichmust be staffed by specially trained personnel.As can be seen from the foregoing description, good practice in Belgium, specifiedin the paper on Legislation in the Member States of the Council of Europe in the fieldof violence against women (2001), continue to bear fruit and are a model of how toinvolve the various bodies concerned in the extension of training to all professionalscatering for victims.They are likewise an example of the co-ordination of theory and practice in trainingon the prevention of revictimisation, one of the most prominent aims in the FourthWorld Conference’s Platform for Action.Spain: A total of 1,502 training courses were conducted between 1998 and2000, attended by 60,878 professionals from different areas involved incatering for women subject to violence and the prevention of such violence.The number of courses and attendance by the various groups of professionalsare shown below:68Training courses AttendanceHealth professionals 106 4,218Social services 152 8,579Law enforcement and local policeforces279 15,951Judicial, legal professionals 201 8,782Educational community 763 23,185Media 1 163TOTAL 1,502 60,878The training courses conducted in Spain can be regarded as good practice in termsof combining theoretical and practical expertise and of taking account of the opinionsof women’s associations and NGOs in their design.Greece: Although in its replies to the questionnaire this country acknowledgesthat it does not organise continuing education courses on a routine basis, ithas held several seminars intended for different groups of professionals,namely:• Seminars targeting law enforcement personnel organised by the InterministerialCommittee for the Repression of Violence against Women.• Since 1999, the Research Centre on Equality Matters (KETHI) hasfrequently organised seminars for attorneys.This same institution has also conducted seminars for nurses and socialworkers, among other groups.The above committee is planning to edit educational materials and intensifyseminars for social services in prefectures, hospitals, townships and welfareservices.69Holland: Has implemented training courses, characterised by special content,for health and social service professionals, in addition to the courses in placefor law enforcement personnel.The Netherlands Centre for Gender-Specific Care, Innovation and theCombating of Sexual Violence, has, in the last four years, assumed theresponsibility for driving the implementation process by performing four basicduties: foster inter-regional co-operation, attempt to ensure that the problemof sexual violence receives structural attention in professional trainingcourses, improve the quality of policies and contribute to victimempowerment.The results of this policy were: a series of materials for practical training; atraining module on violence against women for university students; training fordomestic violence instructors; the inclusion of the study of sexual violence intraining programmes for psychiatrists; a training module on incest foruniversities; a training course on sexual abuse, detection and treatment forpsychologists and psychotherapists.The work performed by Greece and Holland constitutes good practice in terms ofcollaboration with bodies specialising in research and higher education to foster theimplementation of programmes and develop high quality materials to contribute tothe struggle against violence towards women.Most of the responses to the Questionnaire on Good Practice provided by MemberStates indicate that advances in the inclusion of specialised training for professionalsworking with violence victims have been made in most cases in the continuingeducation process and exceptionally in specific courses, with the possible concomitantrisk that such training may not reach all the professionals engaging in this work.70Good practice to expand the scope of such training consists of enhancing theawareness of the bodies in charge of formulating and implementing curricula, such asuniversities and research institutions, of the relevance of the issue of violence againstwomen for the future of the professionals they train.Involving such bodies in co-operative endeavours with public and private institutionsroutinely working in the area (for instance, including the issue in grants for researchprojects or for the design of continuing education programmes, such as is being donein Greece and Holland) generally contributes to meeting this aim.The experience accumulated in recent years in training for police force and socialservice professionals may be very useful in extending such training to other highlyrelevant areas in the struggle against this problem, including, inter alia, judicial andhealth professionals, psychologists and other professionals working with high riskgroups (such as immigrant women or women with disabilities), as well as public officialsat the national, regional or local level.Sweden provides an example of good practice in terms of the foregoing proposal,namely, the inclusion of the study of violence against women as part of thecompulsory university curriculum, where the subject is one of the areas on genderequality required for the compulsory (university) exam in law, medicine, nursing,psychology, psychotherapy, social work, social care-giving and theology.Important progress has also been made in Holland in this regard, with the inclusionof the study of violence against women in the curricula for a number of trainingcourses, such as those taken by people training for positions in the judicial and/orpolice force. The foregoing was a part of the national campaign launched early in2001 to prevent and combat domestic violence initiated by the Ministry of Justice,with the involvement of numerous governmental and non-governmentalorganisations; the two main priorities of the campaign were: to foster the formalinclusion of domestic violence in the basic curricula for all relevant professionals and71to develop and implement on-the-job training to improve the support provided forvictims and ensure effective treatment of perpetrators.The Dutch experience is good practice on how to encourage co-operation amongthe various bodies involved, including NGOs, to improve the quality and scope ofspecialised courses in the curricula for people training to work in the struggle againstviolence towards women.723. RESOURCES AND SOCIAL SERVICES FOR VICTIMS3.1. Measures on resources and social services for victims proposed inthe Fourth World Conference on WomenAs the Fourth World Conference on Women acknowledged, Governments shouldprovide well-funded shelters and relief support for girls and women subjected toviolence, as well as medical, psychological and other counselling services and freeor low-cost legal aid, where it is needed, as well as appropriate assistance to enablethem to find a means of subsistence.Information on the availability of such resources and how they can be accessedshould be amply disseminated so the women in need of them are aware of theirexistence.Explicit mention is made in the platform of certain groups of women who areparticularly vulnerable to violence, such as women with disabilities, elderly women,refugees or immigrants, etc. To guarantee access to information and the servicesavailable to them if they should become victims of violence, it may be necessary toestablish linguistically and culturally accessible services for migrant women victims,who are victims of gender-based violence.3.2. Characteristics of good practice in resources and social services tohelp victims of violence against womenPursuant to the proposals of the Fourth World Conference, the Council of Europeformulated an Action Plan to Combat Violence against Women in November 1997,which asserts that all women and girls subject to violence must have immediateaccess to safety and protection through appropriate support services that attend totheir needs and enable them to find suitable financial resources, regardless of theirrelationship with the perpetrator.73The following recommendations with respect to resources and social services forviolence victims ensued from the discussion taking place at the expert meetings onviolence against women organised by the European Union in Vienna in 1998 andJyväskylä in 1999:1) Create a sufficiently extensive network of women’s support centres with at leastone place per 10,000 women, where violence victims can receive the assistancethey need.These services should be staffed by qualified and suitably remuneratedpersonnel and should provide legal, psychological, social and occupationalcounsel. Victims’ right to assistance should not depend on their financial situationand they should be allowed to stay as long as necessary to meet their needs.These centres must also have qualified childcare personnel.2) Gear services to women’s empowerment, helping them organise their livesindependently of the perpetrator, which entails assistance in finding a job ifnecessary, particularly when they have children to support.It should be borne in mind, in this regard, that shelters generally provide a shorttermsolution, so this measure must be co-ordinated with others that guaranteethe victim’s long-term safety and empowerment.3) Overcome the special difficulties affecting certain groups of women, since theincidence of the above problems tends to be higher when violence victims pertainto socially stigmatised groups or when their legal status is precarious, such as isoften the case, in the European Union, of irregular immigrant women.To help overcome these difficulties, measures ensuring their safety andprotection from violence must be adopted, regardless of their legal status, along74with measures designed to facilitate independence from the perpetrator, such asaccess to a job, free language courses and childcare services for their children.4) Acknowledge the decisive role that NGOs play in these services. In this regard,shelters should be managed and run by women’s NGOs with a feminist outlook.5) Organise services from the standpoint of multi-institutional co-operation, creatingan environment that fosters such co-operation.6) Establish mechanisms that provide for ongoing evaluation and quality control ofthe existing services designed to help violence victims.The European Interministerial Conference (Cologne, 1999) on Violence againstWomen, taking account of the above recommendations, concluded that all nationalgovernments are to be obligated to establish and to finance a comprehensive andcost-free offer of support for abused women and their children, regardless of theirlegal status, under the management of women's NGOs.The results of the Eurobarometer 1999 illustrate the support that certain of the aboveprinciples command among the European population as a whole: 89% of therespondents said they favoured the provision of a toll-free telephone service forassistance.With respect to who should be involved in providing support for victims, the resultsshow that: 93% favour delivery of such support by the social services; 91% by healthservices; 90% by the police force; 86% by the Government; 83% by attorneys orprosecutors; 80% by volunteer organisations and 65% by religious organisations.753.3. Good practice in resource and social services to help victims ofviolence against women in European Union Member StatesThe DAPHNE (1997-1999; 2000-2003) initiative and programme, created toguarantee the protection of women’s and girls’ physical and psychological healththrough the prevention of violence and the provision of support for victims, can beregarded as good practice in the European Union in general in terms of services thatcater for victims.The actions under such programme are geared to fostering transnationality,establishing multi-disciplinary networks and ensuring the exchange of information,the implementation of good practice, co-operation across the Union and raising ofawareness in society.Funding was provided for NGO projects in the first stage and extended in the secondto public institutions, private sector organisations, countries that are candidates foraccession to the European Union and European Economic Area countries.The assessment of the DAPHNE (1997-1999) initiative indicates that it haseffectively fostered good practice in victim support services, especially as regardsco-operation and the development of an assessment culture around projects andservices; it was found that the most effective of these took a multi-sectoral approach,enlisting the participation of a number of different bodies, a feature that facilitatesknowledge transfer.The participating organisations evaluated action involving international co-operationvery highly, pointing out that the experience proved to be an important and gratifyinglearning opportunity. The implementation of outside assessment also constituted asource of assistance and exchange of ideas for such organisations.76The replies of the European Union Member States to the Questionnaire on GoodPractice show that the recommendations agreed have been followed more closely inthe case of support services for the victims of violence against women than otherareas; differences are observed, however, in the nature, scope and quality of theservices offered, and a number of widely extended difficulties still need to beaddressed.It is likewise noted that most of the services focused on victims of domestic violenceand that substantially less effort was devoted to extending them to other types ofviolence.On the grounds of the responses to the questionnaire from the fifteen MemberStates, the following conclusions can be drawn about good practice followed acrossthe Union with respect to support provided for victims of violence:1) Information and counselling centres for violence victims are available in all fifteenMember States, although there are differences in terms of the scope of coverage.Where the type of services are specified, all States except one includepsychological, legal and social-occupational support.One instance of good practice with respect to information and support centres forviolence victims is in place in Italy, whose self-help groups aim to help womenassess their situation and possibilities.2) There are shelters for victims and their children in all fifteen Member States;psychological support is always provided in these shelters, and, in 87% of thecountries, legal and social and occupational counselling is also available.3) Emergency assistance services for victims are likewise available in fourteen ofthe fifteen countries (93%): Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and UnitedKingdom.774) 24-hour toll-free call centres for victims have been established in thirteen of thefifteen States (87%): Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland,Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.In this regard, attention might be drawn to good practice implemented in France,which has different telephone numbers for different types of violence: domestic,sexual and at the workplace.5) Resource guides on the services available to victims have also been formulated infourteen countries (93%): Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece,Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and UnitedKingdom.6) They have all created or are developing official web pages to disseminateinformation of interest over the Internet.In some cases, such as Spain, violence may be reported by e-mail. This type ofgood practice may help overcome the difficulties involved in reporting violenceagainst women.Attention may also be drawn to good practice in the United Kingdom, consisting ofdissemination of information over the Internet, on the Living without fear project, theCrime reduction programme and specific information on services for children. Livingwithout fear is geared to service providers and presents a series of good practicesthat have been found to be particularly effective and constitute a strategic frameworkfor the future. Another measure worthy of note as good practice is a guide drafted bylocal authorities and intended to raise sensitivity among local officials in theirdealings with women who are victims or potential victims of domestic violence787) Eleven Member States (73%) report the existence of specific support units intheir law enforcement services for women who are victims of violence, whichprovide psychological and legal support in conjunction with the respective socialservices: Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal,Spain and United Kingdom. France also reports the existence of such specificunits in all the districts of the territorial police.Sweden reports that it does not have such units, but adds that all police officersreceive training on violence against women and that these cases are handled byspecially trained professionals. These squads offer psychological and legalservices or information on how to access specific services outside policefacilities. Law enforcement officers are obliged to inform victims of their right tosupport and the social services available. A working group whose membershipincludes local police representatives has been created within the police force forthis purpose, whose mission, among others, is to produce and circulate goodideas. One outcome of the group's efforts is a manual on crime victims.8) Nine Member States (60%) report the existence of specific support units forwomen who are victims of violence in the court system: Austria, Belgium, Finland,France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. In most of thesecountries legal counsel is also provided. Sweden notes that such assistance isnot automatically provided, but contingent upon meeting certain requirements. Insome cases, these units provide psychological counselling and co-ordinate thiskind of support with the various social services.In Germany, witness protection units have been developed, a good practice thatmay improve violence victim protection and the effectiveness of perpetratorindictment.While United Kingdom and France replied to this question in the negative, they werecounted among the countries answering affirmatively because:79• United Kingdom asserts that some services are delivered by NGOs to providerape and sexual assault (as well as other crime) victims with support. NorthernIreland further reports that specific victim support services are available in thecourt system.• France indicates that it has support services, but not specifically geared towomen. These services furnish all kinds of useful information for domesticviolence victims, with respect to lodgings, employment, childcare and financialand social assistance.9) Nine Member States (60%) report that they routinely organise training courses forwomen victims of violence to enhance their employability: Belgium, France,Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and United Kingdom(Northern Ireland).This can be regarded to be an example of good practice that contributes to victimempowerment by guaranteeing their financial independence from perpetrators. Itseffectiveness is enhanced when supplemented by other measures, as verified inprojects implemented under the DAPHNE initiative.10) Six Member States (40%) report the existence of a protocol for medical supportfor victims: France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom (NorthernIreland); such protocols may be very useful in detecting cases of violence againstwomen. In this regard, the following countries included relevant comments on thequestionnaire:• Austria: Catalogues of symptoms have been developed for healthprofessionals and circulated throughout the country in the form of brochures.Multidisciplinary child protection groups of doctors, nurses, psychologists andsocial workers have been formed to raise awareness in hospitals on how todetect violence and the measures to be taken.80• Finland: A protocol on rape was formulated as part of the NationalProgramme for the Prevention of Violence against Women.• France: Specific documents have been elaborated and distributed aiming atthe health services staff as helpers of the victims of conjugal and sexualviolence.• Greece: The University of Athens has drawn up a manual on medicaltreatment for victims.• Sweden: Assistance, treatment and support are provided for violence victimsthrough the National Centre for Battered and Raped Women, under the aegisof the Uppsala university hospital. The centre also conducts specific researchon the kinds of support that health services can provide these women andcirculates information on its working methods to other regions of the country.Furthermore, a project is under way in three Swedish counties to identifywomen violence victims in maternity wards and shelters.• United Kingdom: Several Health Guides have been drafted on the local levelin England and Wales, addressing a series of issues such as: how torecognise abuse and mistreatment, what questions should be asked of victimsand how to contact local support services. Nationally, the Department ofHealth has issued a publication titled Domestic violence: a resource manualfor health care.11) Eleven Member States (73%) report that they have a protocol for co-ordinatingaction taken by the various official institutions working with women victims ofviolence: Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland,Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom . This protocol is highly relevant forthe co-ordinated organisation of the support provided to victims, with a view topreventing revictimisation as well as the unnecessary repetition of case historieswhile optimising existing resources. In their replies to the questionnaire, thefollowing countries included relevant comments on such co-ordination,summarised below:81• Austria: Has developed a documentation sheet for the legal and psychosocialcase processing, used to co-ordinate co-operation among the variousinstitutions involved. Moreover, this country draws attention to the relevanceof its anti-family violence mediation services. The police force is obliged tonotify the respective service of any decision to expel a family member fromthe household. This service then contacts the woman concerned to offer herprotection: formulation of a safety plan, legal and psycho-social assistance,childcare... Women may also repair directly to these services, which coordinatethe mediation process among all the professional groups concerned.The so-called Case conferences have proved to be particularly effective inthis regard.• France: Has established a mechanism of co-ordination at two levels:1. At national level, a commission integrated by representatives of theMinistries (Social Affairs, Justice, Home Affairs, Defence, Health, Housing,National Education…), elective representatives, associations and experts.2. At local level, in all the departments, commissions for action to combatviolence against women, under the authority of the civil governors and ofthe representatives of local institutions, different professions, electivepositions and associations networks.• Italy: Is presently working on the establishment of co-ordination. A commonprotocol is being formulated to co-ordinate services as part of the ReteAntiviolenza: URBAN programme (Anti-violence Network: URBAN).• Spain: In addition to a co-ordination protocol, has created two Commissionsspecifically for this purpose:1. An Interministerial Commission composed of representatives of theMinistry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health andConsumption, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Justice and the82Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports. Not only are they involved in coordination,but also monitor and assess measures undertaken to combatdomestic violence.2. A Permanent Commission within the regional Equal Opportunity bodiesthat facilitates the exchange of effective and/or innovative experiences, aswell as co-ordination.• Sweden: The Bill on Violence against Women of 1997 establishes the taskscommon to the different authorities (public prosecutor, national police force,National Crime Prevention Council, National Health and Welfare Council...)and relevant non-governmental organisations and provides for follow-up oninternational developments.• United Kingdom: The Crime and Disorder Act of 1998 provides localauthorities and other agencies with instructions on co-operation. A documenttitled Domestic violence: break the chain, multi-agency guidance foraddressing domestic violence has also been published to raise awarenessamong the various agencies of the need for co-operation.12) Eleven Member States (73%) report having conducted evaluations of one orseveral of their victim support services; in most cases, such evaluations haveconfirmed the effectiveness of these services. The following is a list of servicesand countries evaluating them:• Information and counselling centres for victims: Austria, Greece, Holland andItaly. Evaluation is planned in Spain under its Plan for Action againstDomestic Violence.• Shelters: Austria, Denmark, France, Greece, Holland and Italy. Evaluation isplanned in Spain under its present Plan for Action against Domestic Violence.In France, a quality management experiment was launched in 2002 as part ofa policy to modernise services, drawing on some of the principles that govern83the action carried out in these shelters (among others, networking) withsensitivity in matters of equality between men and women.• Emergency services: Austria, France, Greece and Italy.• 24-hour telephone support service: Austria, Italy and United Kingdom(Northern Ireland).• Resource and social service guides: Austria, Greece, Holland, Ireland andItaly.• Information on the Internet: Austria, France, Holland and Italy.• Specific units in law enforcement services: Greece, Holland, Ireland and Italy.• Specific units in court system: Finland, France and Holland.• Employability enhancement training: France, Ireland and Italy.• Health protocol: Ireland and Italy.• Service co-ordination protocol: Germany and Sweden.It may be deduced from the foregoing that the Member States have made aconsiderable effort to implement a series of indispensable social services to providewomen victims of violence with the psychological, legal and social support theyneed, services which, pursuant to European Union and Council of Europerecommendations, should be continually improved in terms of both scope, to reachall the people concerned, and quality.84Good practice to reach this aim includes co-ordination and systematic evaluation,which are beginning to be implemented in some countries and which should begeneralised. Good practice in terms of the co-ordination of services to combatviolence against women includes creating bodies expressly mandated to conductand ensure the continuity of such co-ordination.In Germany, this role is assigned to the German Forum for Crime Prevention; inGreece to the Interministerial Committee on Violence against Women; in Portugal, tothe Expert Committee for Monitoring the National Plan against Domestic Violence; inSpain, to the Interministerial Commission on Monitoring Domestic Violence, and inthe United Kingdom to the Interdepartmental Group on Violence against Women.Attention should also be drawn to another form of good practice, consisting of theprovision of special support for communities of particularly vulnerable women, suchas in the following cases:• Austria: In the framework of the platform against family violence, specificprojects are being implemented on Violence against seniors: foremost amongthe measures being taken are ones contributing to awareness raising(newspapers, conferences, congresses...) or that involve support for self-helpgroups of family care-givers catering for seniors, to prevent burnout.• Denmark: a statistical analysis of the profile of violence victims admitted toshelters showing that women migrants account for about 35% has led to theearmarking of special funding for NGOs working with ethnic minorities andspecific programmes for support for women who do not speak Danish.• Finland: in the National Prevention Project of violence against women, one ofthe seven subjects considered concerns multiculturality in immigrant women.85• Germany: innovative projects have been implemented to improve support forelderly women (Violence towards elderly people in their personalenvironment, Hanover 2000; Care practices for nurses catering for the elderly)and prevention of burn-out of staff working in centres for the elderly (Handlingburn-out: preventive measures for people working with the elderly).• Luxembourg: a specific shelter for teenage violence victims has beencreated.• Spain: EMUMES, rural “Guardia Civil” (rural law enforcement corps) offices tospecifically cater for women in this segment of the population, have beenestablished.• Sweden: Thirty shelters for young women are in operation.864. SPECIFIC MEASURES GEARED TO REHABILITATINGPERPETRATORS4.1. Measures for rehabilitating perpetrators proposed at the FourthWorld Conference on WomenThe Platform for Action established at the Fourth World Conference proposed thatlegal measures should be designed to prevent violence, judge and punishperpetrators, protect women, redress damage and rehabilitate perpetrators. Withrespect to this last issue, the Platform specifically mentions the need to provide, fundand encourage counselling and rehabilitation programmes for the perpetrators ofviolence and promote research to further efforts concerning such counselling andrehabilitation so as to prevent the recurrence of such violence.4.2. Rehabilitation of perpetrators in the European UnionThe results of Eurobarometer 1999 reflect the controversy usually inherent in anyassignment of priorities for the rehabilitation of perpetrators in comparison with othermeasures to combat violence against women. Sixty-five percent of the people surveyedagreed with the need to rehabilitate perpetrators, in comparison with the 95% whoagreed with the need to submit them to criminal proceedings or the 91% whorequested stricter law enforcement.The replies given by Member States to the Questionnaire on Good Practice withreference to rehabilitation of perpetrators show that:1) Thirteen Member States (87%) report specific measures geared to rehabilitatingperpetrators: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy,Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.2) The numbers relating to rehabilitation in the above thirteen countries are givenbelow:87• Psychological or psychiatric treatment is available within penitentiaries ineleven (73%), namely Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland,Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. Outsidepenitentiaries, this treatment is available in these eleven countries: Austria,Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland , Ireland, Portugal, Spain,Sweden and United Kingdom.• Participation in systematic rehabilitation programmes is offered in six MemberStates (60%): Austria, Holland, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.• Six States (40%) also have guides for changing attitudes in perpetrator: Austria,Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Sweden and United Kingdom.• Only five States (33%) have systematically evaluated their rehabilitationprogrammes: Germany, Holland, Ireland, Spain and United Kingdom. Austriareports that although it does not run routine evaluations in this area, certain pilotprojects, such as the Project for working with male sexual abusers, have beenassessed.The above results show that measures are being developed for perpetratorrehabilitation, although the issue seems to pose special difficulties.4.3. Keys to good practice in the rehabilitation of perpetratorsA concern for the advancement of measures to rehabilitate perpetrators has beenstrongly evident in the meetings organised by the European Union on violenceagainst women.Since the international Expert Conference on Measures to Combat Male Violenceagainst Women, held in Vienna in 1998, emphasis has been placed on ensuring thatwork with perpetrators helps them assume their responsibility, avoiding anything that88such men might interpret as a justification or mitigation of their conduct. This samerecommendation has been reiterated at subsequent meetings.The European Interministerial Conference on Violence against Women held atCologne (1999), which included a forum devoted to the discussion of work withperpetrators, reached the following two conclusions:• General legal conditions must be established in all Member States in order toprovide instructions and guidelines on perpetrators’ participation inmainstreaming programmes.• Work with perpetrators of violence must be based on international experienceand scientifically supported and evaluated as part of a package of measuresaimed at combating violence against women and their children. The opinionsand experience of such victims must be taken into account in this work.The Expert Meeting on Violence against Women held in Jyväskylä, Finland in 1999agreed on the following good practice recommendations in perpetrator-directedprogrammes aimed primarily at eradicating domestic violence.1) Programmes for perpetrators should not be used as a substitute for courtaction.2) Work with perpetrators should include the mechanisms necessary to ensurethat the safety and well-being of victims are the first priority and are notendangered at any time.3) In line with the priorities expressed in the preceding point, programmes forperpetrators should be funded by budget lines other than those used to financeservices for victims. These programmes can only be carried out if the needs ofvictims (counselling services, independent shelters...) are adequately covered.894) Victims of violence should receive information regarding the programmestructure and changes in the perpetrator, and their safety and confidentialitymust always be ensured.5) Mechanisms should be established to guarantee that if a risk to theconfidentiality or safety of the women or their children should arise or becomeknown at some point during the perpetrator programmes, law enforcement andother agencies involved are notified as soon as possible.6) People who work in these programmes should recognise that the conceptualinterpretation of violence against women includes physical, psychological,sexual and economic abuse and understand the connection existing betweenthis violence and other types of similar behaviour such as excessive control andother forms of emotional abuse, which at times are erroneously interpreted asan exaggeration of acceptable behaviour within a partnership.7) The objective of these programmes should be to re-educate violent men bychanging the attitudes that led them to violence. They should be taught thatthey have no right to control or attack their (ex) partners. This is the mainobjective of this intervention, and superior to any other change the perpetratormay need such as a treatment for alcohol abuse.8) Programme duration should be at least for twelve months with sessions once aweek, since short-term programmes are not enough and may even bedangerous. They should include both individual and group work, the latter beingthe key to the effectiveness of the programme.9) Programmes should be based on appropriate research in order to employ theeffective methods that have been developed and evaluated in otherprogrammes.10) All programmes should be monitored and evaluated to ensure they improvewomen’s safety and are effective in changing men’s attitudes. The evaluationmust be performed using other sources of information in addition to the90perpetrator’s own report and should include, whenever possible, the accountsof the victims and other types of evidence on the change that may have takenplace.11) Perpetrator programmes must be part of a co-ordinated action to combatviolence against women and should involve the police, justice, the servicesworking with victims and social welfare bodies. To this end, formal collaborationagreements among such bodies should be established.4.4. Good practice in perpetrator rehabilitation in European UnionMember StatesIn their replies to the questionnaire, four Member States provide rather detaileddescriptions of the rehabilitation measures for perpetrators presently in place. Thecharacteristics of such measures, which constitute good and innovative practice, aresummarised below.Austria: Men's Counselling Centres in several Austrian cities (Vienna, Linz,Salzburg, Innsbruck, Bregnez and Klagenfurt) offer programmes for violent men. Inthe Vienna centre, where perpetrators are required by the public prosecutor andyouth authorities to take these courses, a pilot project targeting perpetrators ofsexual abuse has been implemented in recent years (1997-2001). This project wasevaluated by the University of Vienna's Institute of Psychology, whose final report willbe published shortly. One of the chapters discusses perpetrator diagnosis andprognosis and includes a series of measuring instruments that are suitable for thispurpose.Several expert groups conducted a series of studies designed to propose actionguidelines for the perpetrator rehabilitation programmes implemented in Austria. Onesuch study was run in 1998 on International models for authors of sexual abuse, andanother in 1998-2000 proposing a series of measures and criteria for action alongthe lines of the recommendations made during the 1999 conference held in91Jyväskylä, Finland. The working model resulting from this study was published in2000 under the title Täterarbeit - ein Bietrag zum Opferschutz (Sexual abuse - acontribution to protection of victims). The study concludes with a series of principles,rules and content relating to programmes for perpetrators (distinguishing betweenperpetrators of sexual violence against minors from those whose victims arewomen), which have since been approved by both victim protection establishmentsand the institutions working with perpetrators.On the grounds of the above study, the following basic principles were adopted forwork with perpetrators:• Measures should be geared to protection of victims.• The primary objective is to curb violence and prevent further acts of violence.• Women's and minors' safety is an essential element in the work done withperpetrators.• The responsibility for violent acts lies exclusively with perpetrators - their abusecannot be justified by troubled family dynamics, previous violence or other typesof experience.• In the approach adopted perpetrators must be viewed as whole human beingswho may have committed violent acts but who at the same time have thepotential to change both themselves and their abusive behaviour.These principles are translated into specific rules for working with perpetrators ofviolence against women that follow along the same lines as specified above in thissection, in connection with the Jyväskylä Conference recommendations.Perpetrator rehabilitation as conducted in Austria is good practice insofar as itaddresses issues such as how to factor international evaluations in such work, howto prioritise protection for victims and how to co-ordinate the action taken by bodiesresponsible for protection with the work done by entities dealing with perpetrators.Germany: The Federal Government's Action Plan to Combat Violence againstWomen describes the measures adopted to rehabilitate perpetrators in92approximately the following terms: On the one hand, perpetrators are treated by theState as the delinquents they are.(...) However, a process must also be initiated thatwill lead the perpetrator to modify his violent conduct (...), because even thoughregular application of penalties may have a general preventive effect by showingsociety that such behaviour will not be condoned, it usually has no preventive effecton the future conduct of the individual convicted.As mentioned above, Germany’s responses to the Questionnaire on Good Practiceincluded the following remarks on rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators:• The approach used by centres for violent men usually combines threetreatment areas: psychotherapy, training in social skills and counselling.• In the case of a suspended sentence, the court may order the perpetrator totake interim steps for his rehabilitation. For example, the court may order apsychotherapeutic treatment and/or prohibit the author of the crime fromhaving any contact with the victim. If relevant, it may also order him to abstainfrom consuming alcohol or, with his consent, order him to take a detoxificationcure.• During execution of the perpetrator’s sentence, different rehabilitationmeasures are established for those who have committed crimes ormisdemeanours involving physical abuse and those who have committedsexual crimes or misdemeanours. In the first case, anti-violence or “coolness”training is used. Such training is given in most reformatory institutions in orderto modify the attitudes and personality traits conducive to violence. An intensedebate is held with participants so that they assume responsibility for theiractions (background, development, consequences for the victim) and, ifnecessary, they are confronted with the victim herself. One of the aims ofthese programmes is to help develop alternative behaviour patterns, includinga reflective attitude in stressful situations.• In line with numerous national and foreign studies showing that the risk of arecurrence of sexual crimes is lowered if the perpetrator receives intensive93therapy, measures have been taken so that convicted perpetrators who meetcertain criteria have access as soon as possible to this kind of treatment.Under the law in force up to 1998, penitentiary authorities could decide whattherapeutic measures were necessary and, even if the need to transfer theperpetrator to a sociotherapeutic institution was confirmed, this was onlypossible if both the perpetrator and the director of the institution gave theirconsent. There were not enough places available in sociotherapeuticinstitutions within the Länder for all the prisoners requiring therapy. Thisunsatisfactory situation prompted legislators to modify the Penitentiary Law(as of 1 January 2003) and establish mandatory transfer to a sociotherapeuticinstitution for sex offenders in need of treatment, provided that such transfer isdeemed warranted after a study of the prisoner’s personality and generalhealth and that he has been sentenced to more than two years’ confinement.• In the framework of the scientific methodology applied to anti-domesticviolence projects in Germany, perpetrator rehabilitation programmes havebeen under evaluation since the beginning of 2001 and results should beready by the end of 2002. Results on the treatment of sex offenders arecurrently available.Germany’s approach is an example of good practice in incorporating perpetratorprogramme measures which help to change the beliefs underlying violence, and insetting up pilot programmes which realistically evaluate the effectiveness of suchmeasures before bringing them into general use.Sweden: The Swedish Government is prioritising work with men in this area, asevinced by the expert meeting called by the Swedish Presidency of the EuropeanUnion in March 2001 on Men and gender equality, where their responsibility inviolence against women was discussed. The Swedish reply to the questionnaire alsohighlights the following five measures:1) In recent years, several men's organisation have been created with publicfunding, pursuant to the Act on violence against women, to help perpetrators94abandon violence. A project is presently under way along these lines inconjunction with immigrants' organisations that work with men from thesecommunities to eradicate violence against women.2) The National Prison and Probation Administration, in conjunction with theNational Board of Health and Social Welfare, has conducted research into themethods used to treat men committing violent crimes against women; and, inconjunction with the Forensic Psychiatric Institute of Karolinska, into themeasures involving confinement or probation for men found guilty of sexualviolence.3) Previously tested measurement instruments are used in programme evaluation tocontribute to improve the work's effectiveness and accuracy:a) Spousal Assault Risk Assessment Guide (SARA), an instrument evaluatedin Canada and also used in the programmes implemented by the UnitedKingdom in this area, enables detection of risk situations and informsabout what to do to avoid recurrence. With appropriate training, the guidecan be used by social workers, penitentiary employees, police and otherprofessionals.b) HCR-20, an instrument for measuring needs and risk situations in the caseof delinquents convicted of violent crimes, to be applied by psychologistsand psychiatrists trained in its use.4) Establishment (in half of Sweden’s local prisons) of a co-operative programmeinvolving the police, social services and probation services for work with both theperpetrators and victims of violence. The police are responsible for initiating thiscollaboration, which involves:a) Training of the professional teams working with perpetrators ofdomestic violence against women within each area.95b) When a police officer investigates a case of domestic violence againsta woman, he or she recommends that the victim contact the socialservices unit that can help her and move her to a safe residence ifnecessary.In some areas, police use a special version of the above-mentionedSARA Guide to decide what to do after an incident of male violenceagainst a spouse.c) Communication is established with the perpetrator of this violence sothat he enters a special group programme organised by the socialservices department, which at times may begin before the trial. At othertimes, participation in such programmes is due to a judicial order,combined with probation if imprisonment can be avoided.5) International collaboration and information exchange: Sweden is presentlyworking with the Home Office in England to develop a programme based onsystematic evaluations. A first version should be finished by the end of 2002.In some penitentiaries, an anti-aggression programme is being implemented,especially with young offenders, in conjunction with probation services. Thisprogramme is based on an original created by Goldstein, Glick and Gibbs whichis widely used in U.S. prisons and was produced to work with aggressive youth ina school context. It contains three basic components: skills acquisition, angercontrol and moral reasoning training. The Swedish programme consists of thirtytwo-hour sessions.The work conducted in Sweden is an example of good practice on how to involvemen's organisations in perpetrator rehabilitation, formulate programmes with ascientific and methodological base, evaluate them taking account of previousinternational experience and implement them with the collaboration of professionalswho work with perpetrators and victims.96United Kingdom: The following are among the most important perpetratorrehabilitation programmes conducted:1) The Duluth programme for perpetrators of domestic violence. The effectivenessof this programme is being evaluated by teams working out of the Universities ofLiverpool and Leicester on a sample of 200 subjects. The study assesseseffectiveness from a number of perspectives, contrasting calls to the police withthe results obtained in the following scales for measuring results from thestandpoints of perpetrators and victims:• Used by professionals working with perpetrators: Spousal Assault RiskAssessment Guide (SARA); Dobash checklist offender version; Quality oflife - offender interview; Revised attitudes to offence scale (RATOS);Inventory of beliefs about wife beating (IBWB); Locus of control scale(LCS).• Used by professionals working with victims: Spousal Assault RiskAssessment Guide (SARA); Dobash checklist - victim version; Injuryassessment index (IAI) - victim; Quality of life - victim interview.• Used by researchers: Staff impact survey; Stakeholder survey.2) The Edinburgh Domestic Violence Probation Project, highlighted in the UnitedKingdom's reply to the questionnaire as the first programme implemented inEurope in this area, was initiated in 1990 with around thirty five men. It includesparallel support service for couples. The men participating, under probation for atleast one year, take eight individual sessions and participate in group work fortwenty one weeks. This process is monitored by both the law enforcementauthorities and the men's partners to verify perpetrator progress and guaranteetheir families' safety. This project has links with other, funded by the DAPHNEInitiative and titled Working with men, whose purpose is to extend the supportprovided by agencies working with victims to draw attention to fact that treating97the men involved may be regarded as a way of enhancing the safety of womenand children.The perpetrator rehabilitation work conducted in the United Kingdom is goodpractice insofar as it develops systematic action programmes that include rigorousand thorough evaluation of results, in which victims' opinions are also considered.Questionnaire replies indicate that other Member States are conducting perpetratorrehabilitation programmes, directed by agencies specialising in psychosocialtreatment or research, which constitute good practice in this field (factoring resultsobtained in previous applications, seeking the involvement of bodies which cancontribute to improving their effectiveness and dissemination). The following is asummary of the specific references made in their replies by Finland, France, Holland,Ireland, Portugal and Spain:• Finland: Several types of voluntary programmes are in place. The bestknown, the Jyväskylä model, is presently under evaluation. Its keycharacteristic is the close cross-professional co-operation it involves. Thecentre provide 24-hour access to services. A great deal of importance isattached to the evaluation phase as an essential part of perpetrator treatment.The primary objectives include helping them understand that their violentbehaviour is a problem and the establishment of a safety plan for victims(women and minors).The experimental programme Lyömätön Linja Espoo was launched in 2001and is presently still in progress. This is a new type of co-operation among thepolice force, the public prosecutor's office, the bodies responsible fortreatment for men and the Naisten Apu association that provides support forwomen. In this context, the law enforcement bodies advise men admitting tobeing guilty of domestic violence to participate in the programme to break theviolence cycle. The objective is for these men to assume their responsibilityfor their behaviour in order to be able to help them curb their violence. This98pilot programme is expected to make a very significant contribution to thedevelopment of nation-wide measures.• France: The Act on prevention and repression of sexual infringements andprotection of minors of 17 June 1998 provides for social-judicial follow-up,including surveillance and support measures implemented by the courts. Suchfollow-up is applied to most perpetrators of sexual abuse. In the framework ofthis social-judicial follow-up, a service order may be issued if a physicianspecialising in the field, supervised by a medical co-ordinator, feels it iswarranted. The Ministries of Health and Justice have instituted aninterministerial health/justice working group to facilitate enforcement andapplication of this act, whose purpose is to train the professionals involved inresearch and prevention and define how this service should be organised.The changes generated by this initiative and its effectiveness will be thesubject of evaluation.• Holland: The Zorg Onderzoek Institute is carrying out an ambitiousprogramme, financed with public funding, which combines research andactions geared to rehabilitating men who have perpetrated acts of domestic orsexual violence.• Ireland: Two interdisciplinary programmes have been developed forperpetrators of sexual abuse to reduce the recurrence rates of participantsand further their rehabilitation. They are based on group therapy, working withgroups of ten men. All prisoners convicted of sexual crimes are offered theopportunity to participate in these programmes on a voluntary basis. Theintention is for delinquents to confront the issues associated with their criminalbehaviour, helping them to develop empathy for the victim and plan and applystrategies to prevent recurrence and eliminate their violent behaviour.Supplementary individual sessions are provided, as well as a voluntary followupservice after programme completion. Moreover, probation officers in someinstitutions, in conjunction with professionals from other disciplines, conductpreparation programmes for group participation with perpetrators who want toinitiate group treatment but feel unable to carry it through successfully on their99own. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has commissionedthe evaluation of perpetrator treatment programmes conducted at the ArbourHill penitentiary from the University of Dublin, which is comparing the changesobserved in an experimental group to a control group.• Portugal: The Faculties of Psychology at the Universities of Mihno and Portoare developing perpetrator rehabilitation programmes.• Spain: A pilot programme to treat and provide psychological and educationalattention for perpetrators of domestic violence was started up in 2001. Theprogramme has four stages: prior evaluation of prison inmates, developmentof treatment sessions, monitoring of inmates who have attended theprogramme and evaluation of the entire project.The programme consists of twenty two sessions conducted over a five-monthperiod.The foregoing perpetrator rehabilitation measures implemented in Finland, France,Holland, Ireland, Portugal and Spain constitute good practice insofar as theyinvolve the inclusion of such measures in systematic programmes with rigorousevaluation of results. This can be highly useful in terms of subsequent wide-scaleapplication of the action found to be most effective.1005. LEGAL, JUDICIAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT MEASURES5.1. Legal, judicial and law enforcement measures proposed by theFourth World Conference on WomenAs acknowledged by the Fourth World Conference in its Platform for Action,violence against women must be prevented by enacting and/or reinforcingpenal, civil, labour and administrative sanctions in domestic legislation to punishand redress the wrongs done to women and girls who are subjected to any formof violence, whether in the home, the workplace, the community or society.Although such sanctions may exist, violence against women is often tolerated,which makes it very difficult to detect and eradicate. When it is reported, thevictim is often not protected nor are the perpetrators punished.To overcome these problems, measures such as periodic review and analysisof existing laws, with special emphasis on their effectiveness in preventingviolence are specifically proposed. It is also essential to bring perpetrators totrial and protect victims, adopt measures leading to the reparation of harmcaused and the compensation and treatment of the victims. Create orstrengthen institutional mechanism to that women and girl can report acts ofviolence against them in safe and confidential environment, free from the fear ofpenalties or retaliation, and file charges. Strategies must be promoted andestablished to ensure that women who have been victims of violence are notexposed to repetition of such acts due to lack of a gender perspective in thelaw, in law enforcement practices and court proceedings. Finally, specialmeasures must be adopted to eradicate violence against women who areespecially vulnerable by enforcing existing legislation and drafting new laws asneeded for women migrant workers in their countries of origin and in hostcountries.1015.2. The situation of legal, judicial and law enforcement measures toprevent violence against women in general in the European UnionOn the basis of debates in the conferences attended by experts organised bythe European Union in Vienna in 1998 and in Jyväskylä in 1999 on how toprevent violence against women, the following legal, judicial and lawenforcement measures were proposed:1) The home should be a safe place. Therefore, if a crime is committedwithin the household unit by any member of it, this must be consideredan aggravating factor.2) Criminal proceedings for acts of violence against women should be fullyexpedited.3) In cases of this type of violence, it should be possible to initiate criminalcourt proceedings.4) The victims must be informed of the progress of the case in all stagesand with no unnecessary delay, especially if the perpetrator is releasedfrom custody. The official in charge of the case must ensure that theinformation is understood by the victim, who must have the right to beassisted by an interpreter at no cost if necessary.5) It is advisable to take measures to prevent revictimisation while the trial isunder way by avoiding confrontations between victim and perpetrator inthe courtroom or nearby, as well as not forcing the victim to repeat hertestimony.6) In all stages of the trial priority should be given to measures designed toprotect the victim by means of temporary writs, orders aimed atrestricting the perpetrator's proximity, alarm systems, etc. It is essentialto guarantee the right of the victim to remain in the home in cases of102domestic violence (in which case it must be the perpetrator who isobliged to leave the home). And the woman and her children should beoffered the possibility of moving into a shelter where they will becompletely safe.7) Free legal aid should be provided throughout the trial to women who arevictims of violence.8) The people responsible for assisting victims of violence must havespecific training on performing their task so they can provide thenecessary care and prevent revictimisation, both on police and courtpremises. It is advisable to set up special units in heavily populatedurban areas.9) Legally established compensation payments must be made to victims ofviolence against women.10) There should be adequate co-ordination among the various social, legal,judicial and law enforcement measures taken to assist victims of violenceagainst women.Studies have been carried out in several European Union countries under theDAPHNE programme. These include an analysis entitled Dévoiler les donnéescachées de la violence domestique dans l'UE (The hidden facts behinddomestic violence in the European Union) in 1999 by the European Women'sLobby. Also include two done in 2001 by the Spanish Association of WomenJurists (THEMIS). One titled Guía de buenas prácticas y usos forenses paracombatir la violencia de género, 2001 (Guide to good forensic practices andprocedures for preventing gender violence, 2001). The other titled Guía de losderechos de las mujeres víctimas de la violencia familiar (Guide to the rights ofwomen victim of family violence). They show that the implementation of legal,judicial and law enforcement measures often faces serious difficulties, such asthe following:103• When the victim starts to lose her fear and finds the courage to report herperpetrator — a decisive step in escaping her situation of violence and animportant one toward social progress in eradicating the problem — hersituation may worsen. It is therefore necessary to protect her withoutharming her rights and help her strengthen her position.• Measures taken to restrict the perpetrator's proximity to the victim areoften difficult to enforce.• The victim often withdraws her complaint before the case comes to trial ordoes not appear in court to testify. Although procedures have beenestablished to prevent such circumstances from leading to impunity for theperpetrators, they are difficult to enforce. This is probably due to thepractical difficulty of adapting legal systems strongly oriented towardguaranteeing the presumption of innocence.The evaluation of the legal, judicial and law enforcement measures in thestudies mentioned above leads to the conclusion that, in general, the maindifficulties found in the European Union with regard to preventing violenceagainst women are due basically to the way in which existing legal regulationsare interpreted and enforced.In this regard, we should also look at the following conclusions taken from thepreparatory work for the evaluation by the platform for action of the FourthWorld Conference on Women:• Legal strategies alone are not enough. The law can be enforced effectivelyonly if it is accompanied by other measures to guarantee and ensurecompliance.• If progress is to be made in making existing laws effective, a number ofcommon obstacles must be overcome. These are related to enforcementof current legislation, lack of protection for women and girls who have104been victims of violence and the impunity too often enjoyed by those whocommit acts of violence.As a reflection of the opinions of the European population on the role of legal,judicial and law enforcement measures, it is interesting to note the high level ofagreement expressed in the 1999 Eurobarometer on the following issues:• The two measures asked about, in which the highest percentage ofagreement was expressed, turn on the need to punish perpetrators (95%)and the need to strengthen existing laws substantially (91%) — the samepercentage obtained when inquiring about education based on mutualrespect. In addition, two more questions related to legislation also showeda high percentage of agreement: toughening the laws (86%) andlegislating against gender discrimination (85%).• 62.4% regard domestic violence to be unacceptable in any circumstancesand should always be punished under the law. 32.2% also consider itunacceptable in all circumstances, although not always punishable by law,as opposed to 2.3% who see it as acceptable in certain circumstances and0.7% who consider it acceptable in any circumstances.5.3. Good legal practices for preventing violence against women ingeneral in the European Union Member StatesThe responses to the Questionnaire on Good Practice given by the MemberStates replying to questions related to this issue show that, in fourteen (93%) ofthem, measures have been taken to integrate action to eradicate violenceagainst women. Three different ways of accomplishing this integration wereobserved, in terms of the instruments used:1051) Comprehensive act to curb violence against women. Four of the fifteenEuropean Union countries (27%) report that they have a comprehensive actto prevent violence against women: Austria, Ireland, Italy and Portugal.2) Comprehensive action plan to curb violence against women. This is theinstrument most frequently in place, with eleven Member States (73%)reporting that they have such a plan: Austria, France, Germany, Greece,Holland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and UnitedKingdom.3) Comprehensive act and comprehensive action plan to curb violence againstwomen. Only three countries (20%) have both these co-ordinationinstruments in place: Austria, Ireland and Portugal. The existence of eitherconstitutes highly relevant good practice to co-ordinate the differentmeasures implemented in the struggle to curb violence against women andenhance the effectiveness of the action taken.Holland reports that it established general plans aiming to curb violence againstwomen prior to 1995, indeed, as early as 1982, but they are not presently inforce. Between 2001 and 2002 it is implementing a Plan to Prevent and CombatDomestic Violence, which integrates measures designed to combat violenceperpetrated against women and other family members in that environment.To assess the instruments for integration action mentioned above, accountshould also be taken of the following:– Of the four countries that have a comprehensive law only Austria hasallocated budgetary appropriations to implement it and evaluates performanceunder the act.– Of the eleven Member States with a comprehensive plan, nine (France,Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden andUnited Kingdom) have made budgetary appropriations and four (France,Portugal, Spain and Sweden) have evaluated plan performance.106A good general legal practice to prevent all forms of violence against women isthe fact that all the European Union Member States have signed the maininternational instruments on human rights that are relevant to this issue, asrecommended by the Fourth World Conference on Women. Most of them havealso ratified these instruments, which legally bind a state to comply. This issomething that should be generalised.5.4. Good legal, judicial and law enforcement practices forpreventing domestic violence against women in the Member StatesThe replies to the questionnaire for a good practice guide reveal that allcountries have legal, judicial and law enforcement measures to deal withdomestic violence, along the lines of the recommendations of the 4th WorldConference on Women. We note the following:1) Seven Member States (47%) have defined domestic violence to be a specificcrime or misdemeanour: France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain andSweden. Five States, in turn (33%) condemn domestic violence through generaldefinitions of violence of any nature: Austria, Finland, Greece, Holland andUnited Kingdom. No information is available in this regard on the threeremaining European Union countries.In the seven countries that specifically define domestic violence to be a crime ormisdemeanour, the definition covers physical violence; in five, psychologicalviolence as well, and also in five, sexual violence.Specifying physical, sexual and psychological violence to be a crime ormisdemeanour is good practice that helps to prevent all types of domesticviolence.1072) According to the replies given by the Member States, in no case are kinshipor bonds of affection considered as attenuating circumstances for criminalliability. In eight states (53%) this situation is an aggravating circumstance:Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Sweden.The foregoing is good practice because it explicitly acknowledges that thehousehold must be a safe place in which violence is not acceptable.3) Five of the fifteen European Union countries (33%) report that they havespecific legal procedures in place to expedite cases of domestic violence:France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg. This is good practice thatshould be extended, considering its relevance to shortening the time in whichvictims are exposed to the risk of further aggression.4) Eleven Member States (73%) report that criminal proceedings can bebrought at the behest of the victim: Belgium, Finland, France, Germany,Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. The stateprosecutor may bring proceedings in twelve (80%): Austria, Belgium, France,Finland, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden andUnited Kingdom.The fact that the state prosecutor may bring proceedings, whether or not theincident is reported by the victim, is a generalised good practice highlyrecommended by experts who have studied the issue in prior European Unionmeetings.Nevertheless, it should be borne in mind that, as NGOs often state, eventhough this possibility of independent reporting is legally established, it issometimes difficult to implement. It is common that if the victim withdraws theaccusation or does not appear in court to testify, the perpetrator goesunpunished.108One illustration of this situation is contained in the legal provision mentioned byAustria in its reply to the Questionnaire, which specifies that: A dangerous act ofintimidation (…) against a wife, a close relative (mother, daughter, etc.), sisteror other person living in the home (…) will be prosecuted or will continue to beprosecuted by the public prosecutor's office only if the victim authorises it. Theauthorisation will be taken as denied if not granted within fourteen dayscounting from the notification of a (mandatory) plea by the public prosecutor.(...) All other crimes considered here, such as, for instance, bodily injury, areindictable ex officio, i.e., not subject to the victim's authorisation.In France, proceedings may be brought as consequence of the policeverifications.Italy adds, in this respect, that proceedings may be brought not only at thevictim's behest, but also ex officio under certain circumstances, such as in theevent of severe injury.5) In addition to the channels mentioned above (proceedings brought by thevictim or the state prosecutor), it is also possible to bring criminal proceedingsby private prosecution (reported by eight countries - 53% -: Belgium, Finland,France, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom) or by healthcarepersonnel (in four countries - 27% -: Germany, Ireland, Portugal andSpain). Eight Member States (53%) add that proceedings may be brought byanybody: Austria, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Portugal and Spain.In Austria and France, health care staff is obliged to violate professional secrecywhere they suspect that a punishable action has caused death or severe injuryto a person, or in the event of child abuse.France adds another channel for instituting criminal proceedings: at the behestof associations created to combat sexual or domestic violence.109The extension of channels for bringing criminal proceedings to include privateprosecution, health-care staff or individuals is good practice to make progress incurtailing cases of perpetrators going unpunished. It also sends a message tothe agents involved in terms of their responsibility to take action againstdomestic violence, thus overcoming the so-called conspiracy of silence thatconsiders it a private problem.6) Seven countries (47%) state that under their legislation it is mandatory tonotify the victim of procedural changes in the perpetrator's circumstances:France, Holland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. Four ofthem (27%) report that is mandatory to notify the victim of the perpetrator'scircumstances after the sentence has been served: Belgium (in the case ofprobation), France, Sweden and United Kingdom.Austria comments in this regard that if the victims have brought criminalproceedings on the basis of private law relative to a criminal act, they aresummoned to the hearings and are notified of the sentence in writing, whichkeeps them informed of any change in the perpetrator's circumstances.Furthermore, the Austrian code of criminal procedure establishes that it isobligatory to notify victims of aggression of all orders served on the offenderswhich directly affect the interests of the former.France replies to this question indicating that, in general, during the execution ofthe sentence, victims may be informed of perpetrators' status, especially of theirrelease from confinement. Furthermore, the sentencing judge is empowered tohear the victim to consider her interests before deciding about the penalty.The existence of legislative measures that facilitate information to the victims onthe perpetrator's circumstances is good practice that contributes to the formers'protection and safety.1107) Eight countries (53%) state that their legislation contains legal provisions toprevent victims of domestic violence from revictimisation: Austria, France,Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.Spain and Sweden qualify the statement in that these special measures arelimited to youths under the age of 18. In Spain, however, such measures mayalso apply to adults when they appear in court to testify, without privateprosecution, and the court authorities feel that there is a serious risk of harm tothem personally or to their freedom or assets.Germany states that the Witness Protection Act introduces the possibility ofvideotaping testimony as a substitute for questioning in person.In Austria, the above possibility is also open to women who are victims ofdomestic or sexual violence and request this procedure, as well as for childrenunder fourteen suffering this type of violence, even if not requested.In France, it exists the possibility of keeping in secret the victim address orgiving the address of the police station. The examining magistrate can alsoavoid repeated appearances in court of the victim or bringing her face to facewith the perpetrator.The existence of these legal provisions avoids the need for the victims to repeattheir testimony and confront their perpetrators, which is highly recommended byexperts at the European Union meetings. This is considered good practice toprotect victims of domestic violence from the risk of revictimisation while thecourt proceedings are underway.8) Twelve Member States (80%) report that their legislation includes measuresto restrict the perpetrator's proximity to the victim: Austria, Belgium, Finland,France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and UnitedKingdom. Although Luxembourg does not currently have such measures, theyare contained in a draft legislative measure now being approved. Among themost widely extended in the Member States that already have such measures is111the provision for mandatory distance that the perpetrator must keep from thevictim, included in the legislation of eleven (73%), followed by prohibition tocommunicate with the victim in ten (67%) and evacuation of the abode in nine(60%). Spain and France also provide for the possibility of prohibitingperpetrators from frequenting certain places and in France they may berequired to establish their residence in a specific place.9) In the eleven Member States (73%) that have measures restricting theperpetrator's proximity to the victim, means are employed to guarantee theeffectiveness of such measures: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Holland,Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. Among thosementioned are: notice served by the court to the police station nearest the homein nine (60%) and to the police station nearest the workplace in three (20%);electronic alarm facilities and police surveillance of the perpetrator are in placein two (13%).In addition, certain countries have other types of measures designed toguarantee the effectiveness of proximity restrictions, such as: communicationthrough a police database (Finland) or enforcement of such prohibitions byprobation services and court sentence monitoring associations (France).The use of effective means that guarantee enforcement of measures restrictingthe perpetrator's proximity to the victim is good practice that is highly relevant toprotect her.10) Of the fifteen European Union countries, nine (60%) state that under theirlegislation infringement of measures restricting the perpetrator's proximity to thevictim constitutes a crime: Austria, Finland, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy,Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.France reports that when perpetrators fail to comply with these measures it isconsidered as an infringement subjected to certain penalties, provisional arrestand revocation of suspension or a sentence.112Considering infringement of measures restricting the proximity of theperpetrators to the victims a crime is good practice to improve their protection.11) Nearly all the Member States, that is, fourteen (93%), state that free legalaid is available to victims of domestic violence: Austria, Belgium, Finland,France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal,Sweden, Spain and United Kingdom. In twelve of them (80%), such assistancecovers legal counselling, and also in twelve legal assistance during trial. Somecountries qualify their reply to this item stating that free legal aid depends oncertain requirements being met by the case or the person and others add that,in addition to cost-free legal assistance, victims are offered the services of ageneral support counsellor (Finland) or, specifically, of psychological andmaterial support from associations (France).The availability of free legal aid is good practice since it enables the victims tobe aware of the possibilities for taking action against an act of aggression andfacilitates their access to justice.12) Four countries (27%) have specific domestic-violence victim-assistanceunits on judicial services: France, Holland, Ireland and Italy. Holland reports inthis regard that in all district public prosecutors' offices there is a prosecutorspecialised in cases of sexual violence who plays an important role in thespecialised work and in co-operation with other services.Spain, while replying that there are no specific units, notes that numerouscourts and tribunals have offices for assistance to victims of crimes againstsexual freedom and any violent crime. This would consequently include victimsof domestic violence, for whom specialised personnel are available to provideassistance.13) Eight countries (53%) state that they have specific domestic-violence victimassistanceunits on police services staffed by specialised personnel for this113purpose: France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and UnitedKingdom.Good practice to prevent domestic violence is to have specific victim-assistanceunits on judicial and police services, always staffed by specialised personnel, toprovide the necessary support and prevent revictimisation.14) It may be deduced from the replies to the question about legally establishedindemnities for victims of domestic violence that eleven Member States (73%)have them, although in most no specific mention is made in their legislation todomestic violence, but only to violent crimes in general. Portugal is the soleexception to this general rule, as its legislation provides for indemnities forvictims of spousal violence when certain requirements are met. The othercountries included under the foregoing percentage are: Austria, Belgium,Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden.The guarantee of indemnities to the victim and acknowledgement of the state'sresponsibility for not having been able to protect her is good practice to mitigatethe destructive effects that violence causes in the woman subjected to it (bymaking it very clear that she is not guilty and that she has the right toreparation). This is a practice that should be generalised.15) Only four countries (27%) state that they have legal measures to ensure coordinatedaction by the various public authorities involved in domestic-violenceproceedings (judicial, law enforcement, health…): Austria, Portugal, Swedenand United Kingdom.Several countries report that while no such measures have been generalised,certain specific action has been taken to enhance co-ordination. In Holland forinstance, some communities are systematising co-ordination locally to improveactions to prevent and combat domestic violence. Finland, where lawenforcement agencies collaborate with other authorities and volunteerassociations to prevent violence against women in their families, monitors114international developments in this area; France, where some norms invite to aco-ordinated action, reinforced by the creation of a national commission againstviolence, and in Italy the courts and the police co-ordinate their proceedings inconnection with domestic violence, especially where minors are involved.The existence of a legal mandate to ensure co-ordinated action by the variouspublic authorities involved in domestic-violence proceedings is good practicethat should be enhanced at all levels (local, regional, national) to improve theeffectiveness of such measures.16) Ten States (67%) point out that they have measures to ensure collaborationbetween public and private organisations to combat domestic violence: Austria,France, Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal andSpain.The collaboration of public organisations with private ones, especially NGOsworking to prevent domestic violence, is good practice that should be sustainedand developed, as recommended by the 4th World Conference on Women.5.5. Good legal, judicial and law enforcement practices to preventsexual violence against women in the European Union MemberStatesIn the replies to the Questionnaire on Good Practice by Community countries,all of them for which information is available (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France,Germany, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain,Sweden and United Kingdom) state that they have legal, judicial and lawenforcement measures relative to sexual violence in place along the lines of therecommendations made by the Fourth World Conference on Women. It isobserved, in this regard, that:1151) The above fourteen countries (93%) have defined, among others, crimesagainst sexual freedom, rape, and thirteen of them (87%), sexual abuse aswell. In Luxembourg —the only country that has not codified sexual abuse—behaviour related to it may be penalised under crimes defined as actsagainst modesty committed without violence against minors, or with violenceagainst anybody.2) In eleven countries (73%), other crimes against sexual freedom are definedthat help prevent this type of violence against women: sexual aggressionother than rape, trafficking in people, pornographic exhibition of minors,exposure of minors to threats against morality, seduction of youth, pimping,sexual exploitation, etc. These countries are: Austria, Belgium, Finland,Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and UnitedKingdom.3) None of the nine responding countries consider kinship or bonds of affectionbetween perpetrator and victim as attenuating circumstances with regard tocriminal liability. Nonetheless, Austria states the following with regard tosexual abuse in a couple relationship:In the case of sexual abuse with force against the wife or partner, the law ingeneral does not provide for attenuating circumstances. However, if thevictim is willing to continue living with the author of the crime and theprognosis for the couple's remaining together is favourable, the minimumlegal sentence may be applied in consideration of extraordinary attenuatingcircumstances (within certain limits).4) In ten countries (67%) provisions include aggravating circumstances forcriminal liability in terms of kinship or bonds of affection in crimes againstsexual freedom: Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Italy,Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom.116The expert meetings held in the European Union acknowledge that such legalmeasures are good practice to fight against the impunity and conspiracy ofsilence that usually surrounds sexual violence against women.5) Four States (27%) report the existence of special judicial proceedings toexpedite cases of sexual violence: France, Ireland, Italy and UnitedKingdom. However, when the aggression falls under domestic violence,Germany and Luxembourg have proceedings for such situations.The establishment of special mechanisms to expedite legal proceedings incases of sexual violence can be considered good practice that protects womenwho are victims of violence.6) Ten countries (67%) state that they have legal provisions to keep the victimof sexual violence from being revictimised: Austria, Belgium, France,German, Holland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Sweden. Insome countries these provisions can be enforced only in certaincircumstances: when the victim is a minor, when an individual appears as awitness or when the victim is considered to be especially vulnerable.These measures are good practice and highly relevant to keep victims fromsuffering further aggression during the trial, as stressed by the Fourth WorldConference on Women, and should be extended to all cases where necessary.It is noteworthy to point out that Germany is especially effective in its newmeasures for protecting victims and witnesses, which generally include thepossibility of videotaping testimony. In the same way, France informs that hasimplemented an audio-visual system that records the statements of the minorsvictims during the entire proceedings7) The fourteen countries (93%) replying to this question state that free legalaid is available for victims of sexual violence when certain requirements aremet, such as the economic situation. This assistance varies throughout theMember States:117• In Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Holland, Ireland, Italy,Luxembourg, Portugal and United Kingdom free services includecounselling as well as legal assistance during the trial.• In Greece and Spain, legal counselling.• In Germany and Sweden, legal assistance during the trial.Some countries add that, in addition to the above cost-free legal assistance,victims are offered the possibility of having a support counsellor (Finland) orcomprehensive psychological and psychiatric assistance, provided by SocialSecurity in the case of minors subjected to sexual violence (France).8) Four Member States (27%) point out that specific sexual-violence victimassistanceunits are available on judicial services, staffed by specialisedpersonnel: France, Holland, Spain and Sweden.9) Nine countries (60%) report that specific sexual-violence victim-assistanceunits are available on police services: Austria, France, Germany, Holland,Italy, Luxembourg (for minors only), Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom.These units are nearly always staffed by specialised personnel.In Holland the handling of sexual crimes has emerged as a specific field ofpolice specialisation. It is being sought more and more, and regional lawenforcement agencies employ specialists who are available 24 hours a day.Such units must include a sufficient number of female officers.Although Sweden does not have such specialised units, assistance forsexual-violence victims is a priority generally covered by specialisedpersonnel.The establishment and development of this type of service on judicial and lawenforcement premises is good practice that can contribute to improvingassistance to sexual-violence victims and preventing revictimisation.11810) Eleven countries (73%) report that they have legally established indemnitiesfor victims of sexual violence: Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland,Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom. They areincluded under indemnities for all types of violence or are specificallyestablished for infringements of sexual freedom. This would be goodpractice, highly relevant to mitigate the destructive effects of victimisation.5.6. Good legal, judicial and law enforcement practices to preventviolence against women in the workplace in the Member StatesThe responses to the Questionnaire on Good Practice show that all countrieshave brought about major advances in recent years in legal measures relativeto sexual harassment in the workplace, along the lines of the recommendationsmade by the Fourth World Conference on Women. We note the following:1) Eight Member States (53%) have defined sexual harassment in theworkplace as a specific crime or misdemeanour: Belgium, France, Holland,Ireland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom.The codification of sexual harassment in the workplace as a crime ormisdemeanour is good practice, which can help prevent violence againstwomen in this setting.In the case of countries that do not have this definition, sexual harassment canbe penalised via crimes against freedom, dignity or personal integrity of thefollowing types: abuse of authority, affront, abuse, humiliation, assault or illegalviolence. Other instruments, such as labour laws, are also available to deal withit.119Examples of good practices are the regulation of sexual harassment in thelabour legislation of Belgium and the Netherlands:• The Royal Decree of 18 September 1998 in Belgium requires employers toinclude the following in labour regulations: 1) A definition of sexualharassment in the workplace, stating that such behaviour will not betolerated in the company; 2) the designation of a person or service ofconfidence where victims of sexual harassment can go; 3) the procedure tofollow for reporting incidents; 4) sanctions applicable to guilty parties.• The legislation in Holland on the improvement of working conditionsrequires employers to adopt a policy on this issue based on measures ofoccupational risk, as well as using security and health services to detectproblems and aid in their solution. Sexual harassment is an important aspectof this law and can be reported as soon as a person begins to experience it.• 2) The legislation in Germany and Spain distinguishes between quid proquo harassment and environmental harassment. This distinction can aid inpreventing the different modes of this type of violence against women.• 3) Four countries (27%) have defined bullying in the workplace as a crime ormisdemeanour: Belgium, France, Ireland and United Kingdom (NorthernIreland), which is good practice to make progress in combating all forms ofviolence in the workplace and should be generalised.Although Italy reports that workplace bullying has not been defined as a crimeor misdemeanour in the national legislation, it is so regarded in certain regionalregulations.Other countries mention other crimes under which bullying can be dealt withlegally: an act that causes physical injury, recognised as such by physicians(Austria); abuse and coercion (Germany); aggression, threat and blackmail120(Greece); harm, threat and action against one's private life (Luxembourg);coercion and crimes against moral integrity (Spain); assault, illegal threat,humiliation or insulting behaviour (Sweden).4) Ten Member States (67%) report that free legal aid is available for victims ofworkplace violence, depending on compliance with certain requirements suchas the victim's economic situation. This assistance varies among the MemberStates:• In Austria, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg and Portugal both freelegal counselling and assistance during trial are provided.• In Greece and Spain, legal counselling.• In Germany and Sweden, legal assistance during trial.Finland notes in this respect that while there are no specific rules on provisionof cost-free legal assistance for victims of workplace violence, they may benefitfrom the general provisions on legal assistance.The provision of free legal assistance to victims of workplace violence can beconsidered good practice since it provides the victim with legal information andmakes it possible for them to better defend their rights.5) Only two countries (13%), Luxembourg and Spain, have a specific judicialprocedure to expedite cases of workplace violence, which can be consideredgood practice that contributes to mitigate the serious consequences thatprolonging these trials causes to victims.1215.7. Evaluation of the legal, judicial and law enforcement measuresfor preventing violence against women in the European UnionMember StatesThis section discusses the replies given by twelve Member States when askedin the Questionnaire on Good Practice to indicate the three legal, judicial andlaw enforcement measures they consider most effective.Austria mentions, in first place, the Federal Domestic-Violence Protection Actof 1997, which gives the police authority to expel the author of a violent act or athreat of violence from the home and the immediate environment in which thevictim lives. It is also possible to ban him from returning for at least ten days(prohibition order). If the domestic-violence victim is a close relative of theperpetrator, she may ask the court for an interim injunction, which replaces theprohibition order, if the latter has already been issued. This injunction extendsbeyond the home and covers a wider area than the police order. The court canalso ban the perpetrator from going to or remaining in certain places, such asthe schools attended by his children or his wife's children, or the wife'sworkplace. Similarly, the perpetrator can also be instructed not to meet thevictim or contact her. If the court receives a sufficiently detailed report on thepolice intervention (included in the prohibition order), it may refrain from listen tothe perpetrator (or his defence counsel).Secondly, Austria mentions the Criminal Prosecution Act, which contributes toprevent revictimisation while the trial is underway, thus avoiding the need totestify again in hearings. There is also the possibility of establishing specialcircumstances for hearing the victim's testimony (without having to confront theauthor of the crime) so that questioning can take place without her beingpresent. The questioning can also be entrusted to a professional expert (usuallya psychiatrist).122Finland reports, firstly, on its Act on Restriction Orders, in force for three yearsnow, during which the one hundred-some such orders issued per month standas proof of the need for such a measure. A proposal to improve it is presently inParliament and is expected to be passed in 2002. The amendments include anextension of such orders for application to perpetrators living with victims,whereby they would be required to abandon the place of abode, a measure notincluded in the existing Act. Secondly, this Member State highlights the 1999reform of its Penal Code on sexual crimes, which has proved to be highlyrelevant to adapt this chapter of the code to the enormous disadvantage atwhich victims are generally placed in such situations. Among other changes, thereform allows criminal charges for sexual crimes to be brought by the publicprosecutor. Thirdly, Finland mentions the Criminal Act of 1997, on the groundsof which courts may designate a support counsellor to cater for the victim of asexual crime throughout the police investigation and court proceedings.France highlights, firstly, the improvement in the treatment and assistanceprovided victims through the: 1) reinforcement of their rights, in particular afterthe act of 15 June 2000 (mandating that records must be kept of charges, evenif the service involved has no territorial competence and that victims must benotified of all of their rights throughout the procedure, and providing forsimplification of ways to institute civil proceedings...) and 2) enlargement of thescope of victim support squads in police services and initial and continuingeducation for these professionals on such issues. Secondly, it reports thatspousal violence has been defined as a crime and that violence committed bythe victim's spouse or de facto partner is an aggravating circumstance. Thirdly,this State mentions the establishment and promotion of departmentalcommissions to curb violence against women whose purpose is to favour cooperationamong local institutions, elected representatives and associations, coordinatedunder the authority of the civil governor, and the creation, in 2001, ofthe national commission on violence against women.Germany mentions, first of all, the recently approved Violence Protection Act of2001, which improves civil preventive protection against violent acts in generaland against domestic violence in particular. It includes legal measures such as123banning contact, proximity and harassment. The perpetrator is required toevacuate the home when the perpetrator and the victim have been managing itjointly on a long-term basis. Secondly, the Victim Protection Act includesprocedural improvements to enhance the safety of victims and witnesses. Andthirdly, the Employee Protection Act contains effective measures for protectionagainst sexual harassment in the workplace. With regard to evaluating theeffectiveness of the measures, Germany comments that all intervention plansinclude a scientific evaluation and that the new measures mentioned will soonbe available.Greece states that the most effective measure in this area is the creation in1999 of the Interministerial Committee for the Repression of Violence AgainstWomen under a decision by the Ministry of the Interior, Public Administrationand Decentralisation, in co-operation with the Ministry of Health and SocialWelfare and the Ministry of Public Order. The purpose is to co-ordinate, specifyand implement appropriate, immediate actions to eradicate this phenomenon. Itis made up of teams including members of each of the ministries responsibleand the Research Centre on Equality Matters (KETHI), whose members includeprestigious experts from the academic community and the women's movement.Holland mentions a study on the effectiveness of legislation covering sexualharassment in the workplace, published in 2000, which compares the resultsobtained then with an evaluation carried out in 1995. This study shows thatemployers have improved considerably in the knowledge of their obligationsunder the Working Conditions Act, to cope with sexual harassment. 72% ofemployers have taken measures to identify risks and 57% have implemented astrategy — figures considerable higher than in 1995 (23% and 19%,respectively). The most commonly used procedure for protection against sexualharassment focuses on meetings in the workplace to discuss the issue openly(26% in 2000 as opposed to 22% in 1995).Ireland highlights its Children's First Protocol on action procedures by lawenforcement agencies and health professionals, a national guide to ensure theprotection of and welfare for minors. One of the objectives of the protocol is to124improve the identification, measurement, treatment and control of child abuse.Secondly, this country mentions the establishment of the DVSAIU in March1993, a nation-wide unit designed to further better practice in DV operationsand investigation of rape, sexual assault and the sexual abuse of children.Thirdly, this country reports on the 1996 Act on Domestic Violence, whichexpands the Barring Orders to include other types of people, such as those wholive with victims and their children. This new legislation empowers courts toestablish long-term protection orders and also vests the Health Board with newpowers.Luxembourg states the main legal, judicial and law enforcement measures arethose relating to police training.Portugal mentions three measures as the most relevant in this area: 1) that thestate may compensate victims of conjugal violence in certain circumstances; 2)removal of the perpetrator from the place where the crime was committed orwhere the victim or other family members live; 3) the National Plan on DomesticViolence. This plan is currently being evaluated and includes measures not onlyfor sensitisation and prevention of domestic violence but also to protect victims,as well as studies and research on the issue.Spain reports the following as the three most relevant legal, judicial and lawenforcement measures for combating violence against women: 1) the inclusionof psychological violence under the crime of domestic violence; 2) free legalassistance for victims of violence against women; 3) the inclusion in procedurallegislation of the precautionary measure of keeping the perpetrator away fromthe victim.Another measure taken in Spain is the creation of an InterministerialCommission, whose membership comprises senior officials from the Ministriesof Labour and Social Affairs, the Interior, Health and Consumer Affairs, Justice,and Education, Culture and Sport to co-ordinate, evaluate and conduct followupon the Comprehensive Plan against Violence.125Sweden mentions in first place the definition of serious violation of a woman'sintegrity by force as a crime. This new legal device makes it possible toincrease the criminal status of repeated crimes (assault, illegal threat, sexualhumiliation) when they are committed by a man against a woman with whom hehas a close relationship. It is punishable by a prison term ranging from sixmonths to six years. Secondly, as part of the reform on violence againstwomen, instructions are given by the government to the following agencies tocarry out common tasks for preventing violence against women: the state andregional prosecutors' offices, the national police agency and regional lawenforcement authorities, the National Council on Crime Prevention, the nationalhealth and welfare services and some departments within the National JusticeAdministration. These instructions focus on the five following areas: enhancingefforts to prevent violence against women; designing an action plan and adocument on policy to implement; co-operation with other relevant authoritiesand organisations; supervising the development of this issue internationally; andreporting regularly to the government on measures adopted. As a thirdmeasure, in 2001 Sweden approved a series of actions to improve the victims'circumstances, including one to enhance the recognition of the victims' rights— especially for women — in order to extend the possibility of free defence.The United Kingdom reports, firstly, on its Victim Support’s National WitnessService, available in all Crown Courts in England and Wales. This service canarrange for such things as visits to familiarise victims with the court prior to thetrial, separate waiting rooms prior, during and after the trial, aid to defrayexpenses and information on indemnities. Secondly, the UK highlights a cooperativeeffort with municipal police, known as Enough is Enough, designed todevelop a proactive strategy against domestic violence, focusing on safety forthe victims and children undergoing this ordeal and on the responsibility of theauthor of such abuse. This endeavour has contributed to developing goodpractice for action in crisis situations and longer term support for victims andestablished the framework for reviewing cases of domestic violence resulting indeath for the purpose of reinforcing co-operation between agencies andproviding better protection for victims. Thirdly, mention is made to a guideentitled Prosecuting cases of domestic violence, issued by the Crown126Prosecution Service and intended to help users through all stages of theprocess, informing them of relevant information and the procedural steps tofollow.The responses to the Questionnaire on Good Practice show that highly relevantlegal, judicial and law enforcement instruments have been developed in theEuropean Union to prevent violence against women. According to studiescarried out by several organisations in recent rears, the effectiveness of theseinstruments could be improved by a systematic, ongoing evaluation of all themeasures adopted. This would make it possible to detect and remedy existinglimitations on their compliance and enforcement. The most specificrecommendations are the following:1) Determine whether the current definition of crimes and misdemeanours issufficient and appropriate so that violent actions against women do not gounpunished. Special attention should be paid to crimes and misdemeanours notcodified as such, such as psychological domestic violence, sexual harassmentand bullying.2) Extend and evaluate measures to guarantee the protection of victims, suchas restricting the perpetrator's proximity as mentioned by several MemberStates among especially effective measures. Others are those designed toinform the victim of changes in the latter's situation. The limitations found insuch an evaluation should be solved as quickly as possible to guarantee thevictim's safety, a priority objective of all legal, judicial and law enforcementactions.3) Generalise measures designed to prevent revictimisation during the trial.These measures currently exist in most of the Member States for certain casesand can therefore be used to protect all women who are victims of violence fromthe risk of such an ordeal.1274) Establish mechanisms to expedite court proceedings in cases of violenceagainst women, especially when the situation of perpetrator and victim involvesthe risk of further aggression from the start of the trial until sentencing.5) Extend special units for victim assistance on both police services and courtpremises so that the specialisation includes all types of violence againstwomen.1286. SURVEYS AND RESEARCH6.1. Measures relating to surveys and research proposed at the FourthWorld Conference on WomenThe need to research into violence against women is underscored in StrategicObjective D.2 of the Platform for Action: Study the causes and consequences ofviolence against women and the effectiveness of preventive measures, as only theongoing promotion of research and monitoring innovations can change the presentsituation.The following specific actions are proposed for implementation by Governments, theUnited Nations, other international organisations, research institutions, women’sorganisations and non-governmental organisations: Promote research, gather dataand compile statistics, especially concerning domestic violence, relating to theprevalence of different forms of violence against women, their causes, nature andconsequences, as well as on the effectiveness of measures implemented, andassure the findings of such research are widely disseminated, among the public atlarge.The following are specifically targeted for Government action:a) Develop new research in selected areas, including work with groups of womenwith particular care needs and/or who may have been missed out of previousstudies.b) Provide support to local research.c) Evaluate new initiatives and programmes.d) Disseminate research findings nationally and internationally.e) Identify new needs as they emerge by means of research and monitoring.129f) Examine the effects of legislative changes.6.2. Surveys and research into violence against women in EuropeThe Expert Meeting on Violence against Women (Jyväskylä 1999) makes explicitreference to programme research and evaluation.On the research side, it calls on the European Union to acknowledge the need toconduct broad comparative studies, data gathering and information dissemination onall aspects of violence against women, and to provide sufficient funding to end withthis problem. This recommendation should be followed up by a consultative groupcomprising researchers, politicians and women’s non-governmental organisationswith extensive experience in the field.The Council of Europe has also singled out the need for research, as reflected in theconclusions of the 1999 Expert Meeting on Violence against Women, which stressthat research in general and surveys in particular are essential, as there is still somedenial about the phenomenon, and can help convince politicians of the real extent ofviolence against women. They also urge the use of standardised instruments able toprovide valid, reliable and comparable data, and generate results faithful to reality.This effort, they continue, should be made at local, regional, national andinternational level.Among the main recommendations put forward by Council of Europe experts at the1999 and 2000 conferences were:1) Draw up gender-disaggregated statistics and develop a suite of commonindicators to achieve a better assessment of violence against women, andevaluate the effectiveness of measures taken to prevent violence and mitigateits effects.1302) Bear in mind certain often neglected influences which can distort survey andresearch results, such as the variations in the ways different types of violenceagainst women are regarded, depending on context and social, cultural orlinguistic origin, or the rapid changes of recent years in the mores as of whichthe problem is conceptualised.3) Improve the standardisation and rigor of surveys by the following measures:• Take representative samples with a minimum size of around 1,000persons, and exercise tighter control of possible sampling errors.• Established minutely detailed scales of acts of violence, to be based ondirect information gleaned from victims.• Provide adequate training to interviewers and researchers, includinginformation on how to handle the following aspects: cultural, ethnic,social and economic differences, and the specifics of marginal groups.• Call in language specialists to avoid translation problems in internationalresearch projects.4) Conduct surveys and research on matters of priority interest, particularly thefollowing:• The economic and social costs of violence against women.• The image society has of violence against women.• The influence of social change and instability on gender relations andviolence against women.• Perpetrator and victim checks and risks, as regards both the general riskof violence against women and the specific shape this violence takes.• The consequences of domestic violence for children and adolescents.• The consequences of violence against women for victims and witnesses.• The types of action which can prevent violence, including specific actionsfor women especially at risk.1315) Foster co-operation at different levels:• Improving interdisciplinary interaction among staff in the different agenciesinvolved (judicial, police, health, education, social services...), whetherpublic or private including non-governmental organisations, as well asinteraction between these agencies and the scientific community.• Promoting research through national and international networks.• Contributing set up research centres specialising in the study of violenceagainst women.6) Establish governmental institutions to co-ordinate evaluation of theeffectiveness of measures taken to combat violence against women at nationaland international level, in consultation with the relevant social agents includingnon-governmental organisations.7) Compile and write up the findings of research into violence against women, witha view to its dissemination to the public at large through all available media.6.3. Good practice in the conduct of surveys and research into violenceagainst women in general and domestic violence in particular in MemberStates of the European UnionPursuant to the recommendations of the Fourth World Conference, the majority ofEuropean Union Member States have carried out studies to assess the extent orprevalence of violence against women, as a supplement to official records andstatistics. These studies are based on reliable, valid data drawn primarily frompopulation sample surveys.Analyses of the relative value of sources tend to set the benefits of one type of dataagainst the drawbacks of another, it should be borne in mind that these arecomplementary information sources.132The main drawback of official records is the invisibility of unreported cases, and thescant information compiled on the victims. As is later discussed, most MemberStates are willing to take measures to overcome these limitations.Among the main advantages of surveys is that they include information on violentincidents not reported to the police; they can be repeated at different times indifferent places, so offer a better basis for comparison; they allow data to begathered on victims and on the circumstances and effects of violent incidents, sooffer a better opportunity to study the causes and consequences of violence thanofficial records. Conversely, the main defects of surveys are sampling errors, theexclusion of individuals not falling within the sample framework (frequently with somevictim groups among their number) or problems related to the memory ofrespondents.Questionnaire replies suggest that the conduct of surveys is good practiceextensively taken up by European Union Member States.In eleven Member States (73%) surveys covering large population samples havebeen conducted exclusively on the subject of violence against women. But thedifferences between them rule out inter-country comparison of findings.Studies on recent changes in the surveys conducted on violence tend to refer to fourgroups of projects, each of which reports different rates of violent crimes againstwomen, which increase with time.At first, surveys addressed the subject of crimes in general. In a second phase,these polls began to include a special section on violence against women, primarilyfocusing on domestic violence. This second group includes the so-called reviewsurveys, such as the United Kingdom's British Crime Survey.In its reply to the questionnaire, Ireland mentions the National Crime Council survey,which would also appear to fall under this second category.133In the third generation surveys, focusing exclusively on domestic violence, thequestions posed go into greater detail and are specifically adapted to the nature ofthe problem. One example is the Macroencuesta sobre violencia doméstica contralas mujeres (Macrosurvey on Domestic Violence against Women) (1999) conductedin Spain and commissioned by the Instituto de la Mujer (Women's Institute), in whicha sample of 20,552 women were interviewed. The survey’s aim was to gauge theextent of the problem, and its causes and consequences. Another, the mail surveysconducted in Sweden on the Prevalence of Domestic Violence (1997 and 2001),targeting women aged from 18 to 64 grouped in samples of 10,000. The NationalCentre for Battered and Raped Women, the University of Uppsala and its Hospitalparticipated in the 2001 edition of the survey.Finally, the latest fourth-generation surveys specifically address the full range ofincidences of violence against women. The pioneer study in the respect was theStatistics Canada Violence Against Women Survey, 1993, which has served asmodel and reference for most recent surveys in Europe and the United States. Thefollowing surveys fall under this fourth category:France: Between 1997 and 2000, the Enquête nationale sur les Violencesenvers les Femees (ENVEFF) (National Survey on Violence against Women)sampled 6,970 women between the ages of 20 and 59. The purpose was toascertain the frequency and most common types of violence and analyse theconsequences for victims. It included specific questions on domestic violence(physical and other), sexual violence and violence in the workplace and inpublic spaces.Finland: A survey titled Faith, Hope and Battering was conducted in 1998 toestablish the frequency and types of violence against women in the domestic,sexual and workplace domains, as well as the causes and consequences ofsuch violence. The survey was mailed to a sample consisting of 7,051 womenbetween the ages of 15 and 74, with a response rate of 70%.134Germany, an officially sponsored survey on violence against women is underway in 2002, Erhebung zu gewalt gegen Frauen (Survey on Violence againstWomen), with a sample of 10,000 women over the age of 16. The purpose ofthe survey is to determine the types, causes and consequences of this kind ofviolence.Italy: The Italian Statistics Institute (ISTAT) conducted a survey in 1998geared to assessing the frequency and types of violence against womenunder three general headings: domestic, sexual and workplace. The samplecovered 50,000 families. In its reply to the Questionnaire, Italy reportsconducting another survey of 15,000 people living in seven cities with apopulation of over 500,000, designed to analyse the causes of violenceagainst women.Aside from the good survey practices described above, other Member States reportconducting the following studies:Belgium (1998): Prévenir, subir et recourir à la violence (Preventing,Suffering and Reporting Violence). The sample comprised 656 men and 783women between the ages of 20 and 49, selected at random in 23municipalities.Denmark (1996): One keynote initiative was the Violence in the Street, Homeand Workplace survey conducted by the police and based on 26,000interviews.Holland: Violence against Women in Heterosexual Relationships, conductedin 1989, and Sexual Abuse of Girls by Relatives conducted in 1998. Boththese studies received funding from the Dutch government.Portugal (1997): General survey on Violence, based on a sample of 1,000women. The main goals were to determine the types, causes andconsequences of violence.135As the above information suggests, the recommendation of the Platform for Action ofthe Fourth World Conference on Women on conducting surveys to determine thetypes, causes and consequences of violence against women has been widely takenup by European Union Member States, so may be deemed to constitute goodpractice.The 1999 Eurobarometer referred to at several points in this report also stands asgood practice in the field of surveys; in this case, an opinion poll taking in the wholeof the European Union. Its aim was to assess the degree of awareness andsensitisation regarding violence against women, especially in the domestic sphere.The study takes in the population over age 15 or over residing in each MemberState. All interviews were conducted face-to-face in the respondent’s home and inhis or her vernacular language. Around 1,000 cases were selected from eachcountry.The inclusion of questions on violence against women in the general surveysconducted on a regular basis by Member States may also be considered goodpractice.It may be inferred from the replies to the Questionnaire that only three Member State(20%) include questions about violence against women in more general surveys:Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom.Surveys constitute an indispensable tool for in-depth analysis of violence againstwomen. But this good practice could be improved if the following guidelines werefollowed:1. Increase the comparability of data between countries by standardising datagatheringtechniques and participating in common surveys with questionsformulated on the grounds of consensus. Twelve Member States (80%) claim tobe willing to initiate such a practice.1362. Include a series of common questions in routine nation-wide or Community-widesurveys, as a means to gauge the awareness and sensitisation of the populationregarding violence against women. Thirteen countries (87%) replied that they arewilling to incorporate certain common questions to allow results integration andcomparison.3. Systematically include data on violence against women in the European UnionCountries in EUROSTAT statistics. Several States even believe there is a need toinclude such figures in their own national statistics.4. Make certain methodological improvements in data gathering and processing, inparticular the following:• Eliminate shortcomings in the sample framework to cover persons belongingto marginal groups who do not have a fixed abode because victimisationrates may be high in such communities.• Perfect the list of questions and the way they are asked, especially questionsreferring to sexual abuse or harassment, so they capture all possible variantsof such practices.• Develop better procedures for recording incidents chronologically, to get ameasure of the rate at which violence is rising.• Develop statistics broken down by income group, to examine possible linksbetween violence and factors such as poverty, social exclusion andbelonging to certain communities, especially where vulnerability is high.The information provided on the Questionnaire by the fifteen Member States showsthat each has funded other research into violence against women since 1995,different from the above mentioned surveys. The following is a list of studiesaddressing violence against women in general and/or domestic violence in particular:137Austria: Has financed several research projects on the types, causes andconsequences of violence against women in general, the three mostprominent of which were:• Combating Violence against Women and Children.• Offer to Help Inform and so Prevent Violence in Schools.• Study to evaluate the Federal Act on the Protection againstDomestic Violence.Belgium: Two keynote research projects focused on judicial policy in mattersof violence against women in general and intimate partner violence inparticular, on the basis of samples of court verdicts. Of the studies listed byBelgium on the Questionnaire, the following two are highlighted:• La politique judiciaire en matière de violences sexuelles et deviolence au sein du couple (Judicial Policy on Sexual and IntimatePartner Violence).• Prévenir, subir et recourir à la violence (Preventing, Suffering andReporting Violence).Denmark: Reports two major studies conducted since 1995 on violenceagainst women in general and, more specifically, on domestic violence:• Violence on the Street, Domestically and in the Workplace, a studyconducted by the police force that provides an overview based on theresults of a survey that included over 26,000 interviews.• Department for Gender Equality’s Survey on EU Countries' Initiatives onDomestic Violence.Finland: Mentions the following studies on violence against women, ingeneral. The first of these is an ambitious programme being conducted by theFinnish Academy on Power, Violence and Gender in 2002-2003. A second138research programme, sponsored by the Nordic countries, is Gender andViolence, under way between 2000 and 2004. Finland is also financing aproject titled The Price of Violence; the Costs of Men's Violence againstWomen in Finland, an issue which has begun to draw attention in a number ofcountries.France: Highlights the following study in the section on the Questionnaire onresearch on violence against women in general:• Enquête nationale sur les violences envers les femmes en France(National Survey on Violence against Women in France) referred above.Germany: The most relevant research studies on this type of violence wereUntersuchugung Gewalt (Studies on Violence), UntersuchungBeschäftigenschutzgesetz (Studies on the Act on Protection against Violence)and Evaluation des Gewaltschutzgesetzes (Evaluation of the Act onProtection against Violence).Greece: Notes that the Research Centre for Gender Equality, KETHI, hasconducted six research studies since 1995; the three most relevant to the typeof violence in question are:• Speaking of Domestic Violence: Reports of Abused Women on DomesticViolence.• Violence against Women by their Partners.• Victim or Survivor, a Rhetorical Construction of Identity in ConsultancyProcedures on Women’s Abuse: a Case Study.Holland: The two studies considered to be most important focused ondomestic violence: one on its definition, extent and aid services; the other onactions to prevent and combat the problem.• Domestic Violence: Nature, Scope and Assistance139• The Prevention and Combating of Violence against WomenIreland: The following are the most prominent projects specifically related toviolence on women:• Making the Links• Safety and SanctionsItaly: Several of the works mentioned are part of the URBA Violenza contra ledonne (Violence against Women) studies conducted in large cities in 2001.Another endeavour referred in the Questionnaire addresses the institutionalresponse to violence against women: Violenza alle donne e risposte delleistituzioni. Prospettive Internazionali (Violence against Women andInstitutional Response. International Prospective Study). Finally, reference ismade to the contribution to the struggle against violence towards women: Leluminose trame. Sistemi de aiuto e modelli d'intervento contra la violenza alledonne (Enlightened Path. System for Assistance and Model for Action toCombat Violence against Women).Portugal: Two studies have been conducted since 1995:• Violence against Women• Women Battered by their Husbands: from Victims to SurvivorsThree further studies have been initiated, on the costs of violence, violencedetected in hospitals and violence detected by forensic medicine.Spain: Reports that thirteen studies have been conducted on violence againstwomen since 1995. The most prominent, in the context of the type of violenceaddressed in this section, were a study of day-to-day violence with women asvictims, an experimental research project to develop and run a programmefavouring The construction of equality and prevention of violence against140women through secondary education and the Macrosurvey on Violenceagainst Women referred above.Sweden: Highlights two research projects on violence against women ingeneral:• Men's Violence against Women• Prevalence of Male Violence against Women in SwedenA third study was also run, under the title Thoughts of Police Officers onDomestic Violence. Attention should also be drawn, as an example of goodpractice, to specific research explicitly commissioned from the Council forCrime Prevention on violence against women and to its instructions toincorporate the gender perspective in all other research conducted.United Kingdom: Mentions three lines of research presently under way: theCrime Reduction Programme is presently funding fifty projects on measuresagainst domestic violence, rape and sexual harassment, with an emphasis onthe evaluation of the effectiveness of such measures to reduce crimes of thisnature. A second line is on Domestic Violence Civil Remedies; it aims to findout if there are any gaps in the current civil remedies and focuses on section60, Part IV of the Family Law Act, 1996. Accommodation and support forhouseholds experiencing domestic violence is the third research issue.The Member States' responses to the Questionnaire on Good Practice section onpriority lines of research into violence against women coincided to a large degree.Listed below are the issues referred, the number of countries mentioning them and,in brackets, the percentage:• Evaluation of measures to eradicate violence: 11 (73%)• The consequences of violence in victims: 9 (60%)• Causes of violence against women: 7 (47%)• Statistical dimension of the problem; 5 (33%)141• Victim risk factors: 5 (33%)• Perpetrator traits: 2 (13%)• Others:o The social costs of violence against women: 2 (13%)o Nature of the forms of violence: 1 (7%)o Cumulative violence (partner, work): 1 (7%)These responses show the importance attached by European Union Member Statesto evaluating measures to eradicate violence; a conclusion very much in line with therecommendations drawn up in expert meetings.6.4. Good practice in surveys and research into sexual violence inEuropean Union Member StatesSome Member States have also conducted surveys and research into issues relatingto sexual violence. Some of the most relevant are listed below:Belgium: La politique judiciaire en matière de violence sexuelle (Judicial Policy onSexual Violence). Also relevant to this section is the study that addresses bothsexual and partner violence, referred in the preceding item.Denmark: Has conducted a study on street violence, domestic violence andworkplace violence, referred above.Holland: Sexual Abuse of Girls by Relatives.Ireland: Attrition in Sexual Assault Offence Cases in Ireland: A Qualitative Analysis.Austria and Greece also referred to studies into sexual violence, though theirsubject matters, trafficking in women and prostitution, respectively, lie outside thescope of this Guide. Austria noted that in its study special attention was given towomen with disabilities, considered to be a highly vulnerable community.1426.5. Good practice in surveys and research into violence against womenin the workplace in European Union Member StatesOne example of good research practice would be the European Community’s initiative,through DG V, in drawing up two reports on sexual harassment in EC countries. Theaim of these studies was to gather valid information on the prevalence, seriousnessand consequences of sexual harassment in Member States.The first study was carried out by M. Rubenstein (1987) The dignity of women at work.A report of the problem of sexual harassment in the Member States of the EuropeanCommunity.The Commission ordered a second study to be carried out reviewing all relevantresearch projects conducted in Member States between 1987 and 1997 (a total of 74,taking in both surveys and research reports). The study was carried out in the tennorthern Member States (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Holland,Ireland, Luxembourg, Sweden and United Kingdom), with Timmerman (Holland) as coordinator,while another study using the same methodology covered the five southerncountries (Spain, France, Greece, Italy and Portugal) with Alemany (Spain) taking onco-ordination functions.In the responses given to the Questionnaire on Good Practice, four Member States(27%) mention surveys and research into violence against women in the workplace:Belgium: Conducted a survey on the “confidence counsellor” withincompanies: La personne de confiance: Qui?, Statut?, Tâches? Qui sont lesvictimes qui déposent une plainte? (The confidence counsellor: who?,status?, profession?. What kind of victims report incidents?), financed by theEqual Opportunities Service. 456 private companies participated in the surveyas did 54 public institutions.143This project identified the main shortcomings of the “confidence counsellor”figure, so providing useful improvement pointers.Denmark: Conducted a study, referred above, on violence in the street, aswell as in the home and at the workplace.France: Ran research on the evaluation of the Act of 1992 relating to quidpro-quo sexual harassment in workplace relationships, specifically titledEvaluation de la loi du 2 novembre 1992 relative à l'abus de l'autorité enmatière sexuelle dans les relations du travail.Greece: Financed the study titled Sexual harassment in the workplace:suggestions for the penalisation of the behaviour in Greece.As a good practice in detecting bullying in the workplace, mention can be made ofthe studies conducted, at the initiative of the European Parliament, to gauge theextent of the problem and some of its main effects.Of particular note are the European Foundation Survey for the Improvement of Livingand Working Conditions (Dublin, 1997) and the pilot study on Health and Safety atWork in the European Union, conducted by the corresponding Agency in the year2000. On the basis of these studies, Andersson states that 8% of employees in theEuropean Union, that is, 12 million workers, have suffered bullying at work in the lasttwelve months, allowing for the fact that cases are hard to identify and the real figureis presumably much higher (Report presented to the European Parliament, July2001).In a Resolution on harassment at work dated 20 September 2001, the EuropeanParliament recommends that more studies should be carried out to gauge the extentand characteristics of the problem in Member States. This recommendation shouldbe taken up to determine whether such harassment can validly be consideredviolence against women.144The reports presented to the European Parliament suggest there are many aspectsof violence against women in the workplace which still need to be studied. From adescriptive point of view, what stands out is the enormous dispersion and variabilityof sexual harassment incidence rates, which are impossible to compare in theabsence of a common methodology.There are also certain hypotheses with major implications for the prevention ofviolence which have not been sufficiently verified, such as Canadian and US findingson the importance of the characteristics and climate of the organisation. This mayexplain the differences in harassment rates from one sector to another.Organisations with a sexualised work atmosphere are more tolerant of andconducive to harassment while those with good labour relations geared more to theperson than the post have fewer cases of sexual harassment.By the same token, it is sometimes reported that work environments with a strongfemale presence give rise to greater awareness about the problem of sexualharassment, and that women talk more freely about their experiences of violence inthe workplace as their numbers increase. Carrying out systematic research intothese links should accordingly be considered good practice in combating violenceagainst women.1457. RECORDS ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN7.1. Measures relating to records on violence against women proposedat the Fourth World Conference on WomenThe Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference addresses the issue ofrecords and statistics on violence against women in the following terms: the absenceof adequate gender-disaggregated data and statistics on the incidence of violencemakes the elaboration of programmes and monitoring of changes difficult. Lack of orinadequate documentation and research on domestic violence, sexual harassmentand violence against women and girls in private and in public, including theworkplace, impede efforts to design specific intervention strategies.7.2. Keys to good practice in records and statistics on violence againstwomenThe Expert Meeting of the European Union on measures to combat male violenceagainst women, held in Vienna in 1998, proposes the following tworecommendations on records and statistics:• The police should develop a functional documentation system whichnot only records the number of emergency calls, but also the type ofpolice action, personal details and information on previous arrests,“court appearances” and convictions.• The police should implement effective, permanent checkingmechanisms for using both by police units and experts from outsideagencies.The European Interministerial Conference on Violence against Women, held inCologne in 1999, debated the need for improvement in record-keeping in order tobetter define the extent, causes and consequences of the problem. Member Stateswere accordingly called on to constitute groups at European level made up of non146governmental organisation experts and researchers, which could gather usefulinformation and generate databases using common criteria, and the design ofmultidisciplinary research programmes with a particular accent on the relationshipbetween offender and victim.At the Lisbon Conference of 2000, which analysed the results of the Zero ToleranceCampaign, it was stressed that one of the most neglected areas has been thegathering of data and keeping of statistical records on violent incidents. Only fourMember States (France, Luxembourg, Spain and United Kingdom) have madeefforts in this direction.The Council of Europe has also repeatedly acknowledged the need to improverecords and statistics, regretting that most Member States of the Council of Europedo not yet have precise statistical data to evaluate the extent and social impact ofacts of violence against women. States, it is remarked, almost invariably depend ondata furnished by associations and use them as the main basis for policymaking,while major statistical agencies both national and European (EUROSTAT) have onlyscant data on this issue. And European institutions cannot hope to assess needs,apply suitable policies and check their effectiveness without the right statistical tools.At the Parliamentary Assembly of 15-3-2000, it was stressed that States have beengoing deeper into this matter since the Beijing and Cairo conferences.In order to work towards overcoming these problems, the Council of Europe madethe following recommendations at its meeting on the issue in December 2000:• Establish services, which provide accurate statistical information on the extentof violence against women, and the demands, which must be addressed.• Develop a national framework, which assures statistics are obtained in aconsistent manner and its correspondence with European records.147• Systematically gather together national data from all organisations in contactwith women suffering violence.• Publish and disseminate information on the services available nationally tocombat violence against women.• Present regular action plan progress reports and share good practiceinformation among all the parties involved.7.3. Good practice in recording violence against women in EuropeanUnion Member StatesIn line with the conclusions of the aforementioned meetings, Member State replies tothe section on records and statistics in the Questionnaire on Good Practice showthat significant limitations persist in this field and that the absence of a commonframework for collecting data and presenting statistics makes comparison betweencountries extremely difficult. The systems described by Member States in theQuestionnaire are summarised below.In its crime and misdemeanour recording system, Austria includes the age and sexof the victim and perpetrator, the nationality of the latter and the nature of theirrelationship. The Ministry of the Interior processes the data and releases annualnational and regional statistics. Austria notes that this system has been improvedsince 1995.The use in Austria of official records for research into violence against womenconstitutes a good practice in this field; for instance, the study of 1,074 policerecords to select a group of victims and perpetrators for 32 in-depth interviews inorder to evaluate the application of the Act on protection from violence in the family.A further study of migrant women and their children was based on 60 interviews withvictims, perpetrators and experts and analysed both the law’s application and the148causes and consequences of violence against women in this particularly vulnerablesituation. The need for priority attention to this group was emphasised both in theFourth World Conference on Women and in the European Union meetings held onthis subject.Austria does not evaluate its recording and statistical systems when replying to theQuestionnaire, but does state its willingness to agree on standardised data withEuropean Union countries and accepted the data proposed for inclusion with just twoexceptions: the person filing the incident report and the withdrawal of the incidentreport.In Belgium, records of the various types of crimes and misdemeanours only includedata on the age of the victim and perpetrator, and these are not systematicallyplaced on file. The Ministry of the Interior, which provides national statistics,processes the data on an annual basis. In its replies to the Questionnaire, Belgiumgives no appraisal of the quality of its records and expresses its general willingnessto standardise data with European Union Member States, without specifying whichelements should be included.Police in Denmark gather information on different types of crimes andmisdemeanours, but do not take details on the victim, perpetrator or the relationshipbetween them. The Ministry of Justice produces national statistics at quarterlyintervals. Records on sentences are much more detailed and relevant information isgathered on the victim (age, gender, nationality, marital status and educationalbackground), but not on the perpetrator. Data on the type and length of the sentenceand follow-up are also included. The Ministry of Justice annually prepares national,regional and local statistics based on this information.Denmark also indicates that its recording system has improved since 1995 andstates its willingness to accept an European Union standardised recording systemfor crimes, misdemeanours and sentences. In the first case, Denmark repliesaffirmatively to all the elements in the Questionnaire except for those regardingperpetrator details. It approves the use of all the elements regarding sentences.149Finland has one of the most through crime recording systems, which includessample information on both victim and perpetrator: age, sex, nationality andeducational background. The nature of the relationship between the perpetrator andvictim is also specified in the event of domestic violence and many details arerecorded on the place the crime was committed. The sources are the Ministry of theInterior and the Finnish Statistics Institute. The information is compiled yearly at boththe national and regional levels. The person reporting the crime and facts aboutwithdrawal of charges are also recorded. Records on sentences include social anddemographic data on the perpetrator (age, sex and nationality), but not on the victim.The type of and duration of the sentence are specified, but not whether it is served infull. The sources are the Legal Registry and the Statistics Finland. National figuresare presented yearly.Finland reports that it has improved its recording systems since 1995 and gives itscrime records a high score, particularly in connection with updating and theirusefulness for taking measures. Records are also scored high in these respects, butnot so in terms of the amount of information provided. Finland expresses itswillingness to participate in a standardised recording system drafted by consensusamong all the European Union Member States and approves of all the items listedon the Questionnaire in this regard.France keeps very complete crime records, which include all manner of social anddemographic information on both perpetrator and victim: age, sex, marital status,nationality and educational background, as well as information on the relationshipbetween them, the place the crime was committed (home, work, in public and anynecessary details on other places) and withdrawal of charges. The sources arecharacterised by their diversity: Ministry of the Interior, Courts and Ministries ofJustice and Defence (Gendarmerie). National, regional and local statistics arepublished at official request.Records on sentences are as complete as the ones for the crimes themselves,showing data on the perpetrator, the victim and the nature of their relationship, aswell as on the type and duration of the sentence and whether it is served in full. Thesources for this information are the courts and the Ministry of Justice. National,150regional and local statistics are readily available at any time, thanks to the computerprocessing system in place.France, like other countries, reports that it has improved its recording systems since1995, granting an average score to the way crimes are recorded. This countryexpresses its willingness to standardise recording systems among European UnionMember States.The yearly publication in France, in the report on activities of the public securityservices, of two sections on statistics on crimes against women -sexual violence andviolence in the familiy- is an example of good practice.Germany’s crime recording system is among the most elaborate. It includes diversedetails on both victim and perpetrator, such as age, sex, nationality and the nature oftheir relationship, in addition to the type of crime committed, which facilitate moreappropriate treatment of the problem of violence against women in its fullestdimension. The Ministry of the Interior processes this information and presentsannual statistics.Systematic data collection in German emergency services, shelters and counsellingcentres is also good practice. Although the data may be biased to some extent, theyprovide invaluable material with which to advance in the knowledge of domesticviolence.Germany indicates that its recording systems have been improved since 1995.When evaluating its crime and misdemeanour records, Germany rates updating ofthe information provided with a high score and its usefulness in combating violencevery low. This corroborates the conclusions of the European Women’s Lobby reportDévoiler les données cachées de la violence domestique dans l´UE (Unveiling thehidden data on domestic violence in the European Union) (1999).151Aware of the importance of these records, Germany expresses its willingness toagree upon a standardised European recording system and replies affirmatively to allthe items suggested on the Questionnaire.The crime recording system in Greece includes data on the perpetrator (sex, age,marital status, nationality and educational background), but not on the victim. TheMinistry of the Interior, which draws up national and regional statistics on an annualbasis, keeps records. The recording system for sentences also omits data on thevictim, and includes the same data on the perpetrator. Information is given on thenature and length of the sentence, but not on whether it is served in full. The Ministryof Justice is the source for data on sentences, which are made up annually intonational and regional statistics.One of Greece’s good practices, as recommended by the aforementioned Europeanmeetings, is to gather data from emergency services, victim shelters and informationsources in five cities. Structured questionnaires provide standardised data which canserve to produce statistics with a major impact on public opinion.Greece does not evaluate the informative quality of its records on crimes andmisdemeanours, but rates records on sentences with a low score of less than five. Itstates that its recording systems have improved since 1995, and likewise asserts itswillingness to adopt a standardised recording system common to all European Unioncountries, responding affirmatively to all the items suggested.Ireland's crime recording system is very complete, and includes age, sex, maritalstatus and nationality of both victim and perpetrator, place where the crime wascommitted, relationship between the victim and the perpetrator, the person reportingthe crime and, as appropriate, withdrawal of charges. The source is the GardaSíochána (Ireland’s national police force), which presents national, regional and localstatistics on a yearly basis.The system for recording sentences is equally complete, and includes the sameinformation on victim and perpetrator and place the crime was committed, as well as152the type and duration of the sentence and whether it is served in full. However, theserecords do not cover the nature of the relationship between victim and perpetrator.The sources are the Ministry of Justice and the courts. National, regional and localstatistics are presented annually.Although Ireland does not assess its recording systems quantitatively, in thecomments it regards them to be complete and elaborate. It reports that they havebeen improved since 1995 and expresses its willingness to adopt common recordingsystems, noting, however, that some of the items in its GARDA system that it findsparticularly suitable should be added to those suggested.In Italy, the recording system is also very complete and updated frequently, withrespect both to crimes and sentences. The social and demographic information onthe victim and perpetrator includes age, sex, marital status, nationality andeducational background. Data on the relationship between victim and perpetrator aswell as a detailed account of the place the crime was committed are recorded, alongwith the identity of the person reporting the crime and whether or not charges arewithdrawn. Many different sources are used: Ministry of the Interior, courts of justice,Ministry of Justice, health centres and anti-violence centres. National, regional andlocal figures are compiled annually.Records on sentences, also very complete, contain similar social and demographicdata on victims and perpetrators, their relationship and place of the crime, along withinformation on the type and duration of sentence and whether or not it is served infull. The sources are the Ministry of Justice and the courts. Periodicity is yearly andnational, regional and local data are shown. Figures on shelters are also compiled.Despite the availability of all this information, Italy rates its recording system asaverage, noting that data gathering it is not sufficiently standardised and indicatingthe need for systematic collection by the ISTAT (Italian Statistics Institute). It reportsthat its recording systems have improved since 1995 and it expresses its willingnessto reach a consensus on common records throughout the European Union, replyingaffirmatively to all the items suggested on the questionnaire in this respect.153Italy implements good practice in the presentation of specific statistics at thebeginning of each judicial year, identifying violence against women in the frameworkof crimes against people, domestic violence, and sexual violence perpetrated outsidethe family environment and at the workplace.Luxembourg provides no information on its crime and sentence recording systems,but does indicate that data on violence against women are systematically gathered inemergency services and victim shelters. It also refers to new draft legislation to makedata collection mandatory in incident reports on violence against women.Luxembourg states that its records have improved since 1995, and indicates itswillingness to agree on a unified recording system with the other European Unioncountries. It replies affirmatively to the majority of the elements suggested, except forsome personal details of the victim (marital status, nationality and educationalbackground) and the identity of the person filing or withdrawing the report.It would also exclude, in addition to the aforementioned data, the place of occurrenceand the victim-perpetrator relationship, when recording sentences.Portugal includes information in its recording system for crimes and misdemeanourson the sex and marital status of victim and perpetrator, their relationship and theidentity of the person filing the report of the crime. The same data are gatheredabout sentences, together with the type and length thereof. The Ministry of theInterior uses this information to prepare annual national statistics and alsosystematically records the cases handled by emergency services and victim shelters.Portugal also states that it has improved its recording systems since 1995 and that itis willing to agree upon a standardised recording system with other European UnionMember States for all the elements included in the Questionnaire.Spain’s recording system is one of the most complete, and provides fairly detailedinformation, including the age, sex and nationality of the victim, the perpetrator’s sex,their relationship, the identity of the person filing the incident report and the placewhere the crime occurred. This last detail is extremely useful for classifying the type154of violence and developing a definition of risk factors and contexts. The Ministry ofthe Interior compiles the data and produces national, regional and local statistics ona monthly basis.Spain states that it has improved its recording system since 1995. Current plans areto implement a new statistical module in 2002, whose main innovations would be toextend the information collected on domestic violence to include de factopartnerships and ex de facto partnerships, as well as boyfriends and girlfriends.In its appraisal, Spain gives the highest score to information and updating, and amuch lower scores (5 out of 10) to the effectiveness of records.Spain expresses its willingness to join with other European Union countries in astandardised recording system including all the elements mentioned, and adds someinteresting data that provide background for more detailed studies on violenceagainst women and risk factors, including drug consumption at the time the crimewas committed, child abuse and the number of times charges have been filed. Theneed for standardised records has been recognised by Spain in its “Integral ActionPlan against Domestic Violence 2001-2004”.In Sweden, in certain cases the crime and misdemeanour recording system includesdata on the sex and age of victim and perpetrator and their relationship (whether ornot they know one other). Sentence records include similar data on the perpetratorbut not on the victim alongside type and length of sentence and whether or not it isserved in full.155Gathering this last type of information constitutes good practice in Sweden, as it canhelp evaluate the impact of certain judicial measures. The National Council for CrimePrevention incorporates it into national and local statistics presented monthly andyearly. Specific publications, a web page and different educational projects andactivities are the vehicles for the important task of disseminating this information.Sweden reports that it has improved both its documentation and the system used forclassifying crimes since 1995, indicating that the updated information providedproves to be useful for taking measures. This country also expresses its willingnessto reach a common protocol with other European Union nations, while noting that it isnot in an optimum position at this time to specify what kind of items should beincluded.The United Kingdom keeps fairly complete crime records, including the followingsocial and demographic information on victim and perpetrator: age, sex and maritalstatus, as well as the relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, whetherthe crime was committed at home or at the workplace, the person reporting the crimeand whether or not charges are withdrawn. No sources are specified, but statisticsare reported to be published quarterly and annually, at the national, regional andlocal levels.Records on sentences, in turn, are similar as far as the social and demographicinformation and perpetrator-victim relationship are concerned, and include specificdetails on whether the crime took place at home and on the type and length ofsentence and whether it was served in full. The source is the Ministry of Justice andthe frequency and break-down of information are the same as for crime records.The United Kingdom regards its records to be average in terms of quantity ofinformation and their usefulness for adopting measures and very good in terms ofupdating. It reports that the main problem encountered is the lack of a uniformnation-wide format, making it difficult to compare data. It has improved its recordssince 1995 and would be willing to standardise them Europe-wide, although it feelsthat it should first standardise its own systems.156The following conclusions can be drawn as good practice in records on violenceagainst women on the basis of the Questionnaire replies received from EuropeanMember States:1) With one exception, all countries (93%) report having made improvements intheir records, as far as updating is concerned, since 1995: Austria, Belgium,Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,Portugal, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.2) Twelve Member States (80%) stated that they were willing in principle to agreeon a standardised European Union recording system: Belgium, Denmark,Finland, France, Greece, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Swedenand United Kingdom.3) Crime and misdemeanour records seem to be more detailed than thosecompiled on sentences. Account should be taken, in this regard, of the fact thatdata on crimes and misdemeanours are fundamental for determining themagnitude and extension of the problem of violence against women; in turn, anindispensable requisite for analysing needs and planning services.Police stations usually collect reliable, updated information, but it is ofteninsufficient.Data on sentences for the specific crime of violence against women tend to bescant, a limitation that hinders the gathering of information needed to evaluatethe implementation of judicial measures.Several countries report problems in connection with standardising informationgathering.4) Official data issue from government bodies and institutions such as thestatistical and research departments of ministries or official agencies; in otherwords, those institutions in charge of gathering data based on precise criteria as157to what constitutes a crime. Replies to these questions are essential since theyare the first step in the formulation, in the long term, of a system to gatherinformation on violence against women in the European Union.5) In general, similar methods are used for gathering and processing statistics onthe crimes or misdemeanours considered in the Penal Code. Most of thecountries evaluating the quality of such records are aware that there is room forimprovement, since the information they provide is fairly ineffective inresponding to violence against women.6) Questionnaire replies advise developing the following as good practiceregarding recording crimes and sentences:• Establish a standardised system or one with a large number of commonitems for all European Union Member States. Willingness to accept this isalmost unanimous.• Increase information gathering on sentences and their follow-up, a practicewhich is not very common among European Union Member States.• Increase collection of relevant social and demographic information on victimsand perpetrators, both in police reports and sentences, in order to obtaindata breakdowns by different variables and gain a deeper understanding ofthe conditions that increase women’s vulnerability to violence.Information on age, sex, educational background, nationality and the victimperpetratorrelationship seems to be particularly important.Other data would also be useful in building knowledge about risk factors(such as whether drugs were consumed when the crime or misdemeanourwas committed and the place in which the aggression occurred).158The systems for recording police reports in France, Germany, Ireland,Italy, Spain and United Kingdom constitute good practice as regards thedetailed nature of the information gathered. Austria’s experience usingpolice records of crimes and misdemeanours is also noteworthy, andshows the usefulness of in-depth analysis of records and selecting thecases to be included in qualitative studies.• Supplement national analyses with others broken down by region as iscurrently the practice in most Member States. This facilitates more detailedknowledge of the scope of the problem.• Supplement information from official records and statistics with data fromother sources, such as non-governmental organisations working with victimsor the social services involved in the problem (information and emergencycentres and shelters). This is a practice reported by very few Member States.These bodies usually gather abundant information both on victims andperpetrators, including age, nationality, profession, marital status, type ofabuse or maltreatment undergone, the victim’s first reaction, people withwhom the victim has had contact (police, doctors, social workers...), therelationship between victim and perpetrator, place in which abuse occurred,etc. Unfortunately, this information is rarely used to the full due to time andresource constraints on the people working with victims, although suchorganisations are usually willing to share their data with other institutions.Greece’s standardised questionnaire constitutes good practice in this field,as it enables information to be gathered systematically, so avoiding someof the aforementioned limitations. In the United Kingdom, theGovernment could draw on the information routinely gathered and surveysconducted in shelters by the Women's Aid Federation of England.